First lecture after looong holiday...not half bad!

Our first HCJ lecture back from the holiday period begins with liberty and the focus on John Wilkes, Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stewart Mills.
We began with John Wilkes, a man who is famed for his unattractive looks, his lisp and his poem 'Essay on Woman' which has been described as the dirtiest poem in the English language. A quotation from him I find quite stimulating to think about is "it only takes 20 mins. to talk away the ugliness". I believe this is a true statement and that more people should try to embrace the idea that we should try to look past the way somebody will look or act and listen to their views irrespective of how they look.
Wilkes had a colourful life filled with drugs, drink and sexual scandals. He was a member of the Hellfire club who were prominent 'bad' figures during his time. He managed to bribe his way into Parliament, which gave him the experiences he later went on to write about in a derogatory way in his paper The North Briton. It was a paper attacking the official paper, The Briton which was published by the Government. His satirical paper was filled with rumour and insults which attacked the Government. Although, nobody knew who was writing the texts so they were powerless to do anything to stop him. But, this did result in many people being arrested all for the same crime.
Wilkes was also responsible for creating some of the laws put in place which journalist benefit from. He was always a critic of the power which gets attached to the richer people of society. This made him very popular with the poorer as he fought for the down-trodden. The USA also liked the way that he showed them how to agitate the system.
After he was arrested Wilkes tried suing the Government, establishing the right of privacy. Wilkes was then expelled from the House of Commons as it was found he could not be tried whilst still a member of Parliament. During the time of his expulsion his poem Essay on Woman was read aloud in the House of Commons by the Earl of Sandwich. It caused great troubles in due to its content.
Wilkes re won his seat whilst he was still in prison, yet once again he was not allowed to join: the house voted that he was unable to be elected because he was still imprisoned. He was eventually re-elected as a councilor of London then went on to become mayor. While in this role he was reporting on Parliament once more and was printed.

Next we looked at Mary Wollstonecraft. She also had a difficult early life, being forced to become a governess in Ireland. She became obsessed with education and leaning and her first book was entitled Thoughts on the education of Daughters. the focus of the book was her argument that girls should be educated in more areas than simply sewing. She enjoyed Locke's idea that the mind is shaped by education. That we are all born with a blank slate and we gain our ideas and morals through learning. She believed that if we are all educated properly then it will make for rational, responsible citizens.
When she returned from Ireland she set up a school in London. She was fascinated with Rousseau and played with ideas of anti-elitism (attack on modern manners.).
She wrote another book , Vindication of rights of men, which was a response to Edmund Burke. Hers was a publication with a main theme of a diagnosis of current state of female manners and trying to explain how a false sense of self has come around.
This book had a good response yet Mary was highly unpopular until he end of the 19Th century.

John Stewart Mill was an important political figure. He also had a troubled past with being jailed at 17, also being threatened with death for the prosecution of Eyre. At 16 he was considered the most educated person in Europe. Yet at 20 he then had a nervous breakdown. It is said that Wordsworth's poetry saved him from complete ruin.
He believed in freedom of speech and the fact that people should not be silenced. He dismissed social contract, yet he did admit that there are certain rules society should follow. These would be called self-regarding actions- don not harm people.
He believed in utilitarianism- maximising happiness, minimising pain. He thought all actions were about consequences. It avoids problems of dealing with religion or morals: ideas of right or wrong are not dealt with. Mills' Godfather had an interesting idea of dealing with ethics as science or maths; you can calculate what is right to do. It takes the view that everybody happiness matters, 'greatest good for the greatest number'.
3 ways of looking at consequences were felt: acts-evaluate right or wrong action by determining the consequences of the action. Moral rule, and Disposition-evaluate the actions in terms of traits they exemplify.