On Social Freedom
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On Social Freedom: or the Necessary Limits of Individual Freedom Arising Out of the Conditions of Our Social Life is an essay addressing the balance between personal liberty and societal constraints, originally credited to British thinker John Stuart Mill but subsequently determined to be misattributed.
The manuscript was uncovered in 1907 among Mill’s belongings in Avignon, France and appeared that same June as a featured piece in The Oxford and Cambridge Review. It saw a reissue by Columbia University Press in 1941, although it attracted minimal attention. Plans by Liberal Arts Press in 1955 to publish it alongside On Liberty were abandoned after Mill expert J.C. Rees cast doubt on its true authorship.
J.C. Rees clarified the manuscript’s connection to Mill through a letter dated September 1862, in which Mill responded to E.R. Edger, who had submitted "Social Freedom" for evaluation. While recognizing Edger’s promise, Mill critiqued several aspects, especially Edger’s concept of liberty, and cautioned him against overlooking alternative means of earning a living.
Within Mill’s Collected Works, Edger is tentatively identified as "probably Ebenezer R. Edger," a collaborator of George Holyoake involved in advancing the co-operative movement, contributor to The Secular World, and author of various co-operation pamphlets.
Holyoake mentions Edger in The History of Co-operation, describing Edger’s critical assessment of Assington Farm’s limited application of co-operative principles:
"During my visit to Assington... genuine 'co-operation' appears absent; instead, there is merely bounty extended by the squire to impoverished neighbors.
(1) Restricted to parish residents (2) One share allotted per member (3) No participation by members in management (4) Standard wages applied (5) Lack of incentives for laborers to acquire shares
The manager admitted minimal preference for hiring members, reflecting limited co-operative involvement."
An individual named E.R. Edger also appears in the British Medical Journal (24 April 1869) as having successfully completed a primary examination in anatomy and physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.