This is the Kator Daily Podcast for Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024.

I'm Caleb Brown.

The relationship between John Stewart Mill and his wife Harriet Taylor Mill was instrumental in the crafting of his essay The Subjection of women.

It's a foundational work in liberalism that should also help us grapple with more contemporary issues. Grant vabcock of Libertarianism.org explains

its value as we mark the birth of John Stewart Mill. This is an odd title.

I remember for probably too long I thought that the title of this long essay short book was The

Subjugation of women. The title of course is The Subjection of women. It seems

odd to me. It means basically the same thing, right?

It's also the kind of book where if you're reading it on a train, you might be worried about getting an

odd glance.

But he titled the book The Subjection of Women because it's about, well, how did it come to this, right?

And where do we go from here? Part of the answer, and this is sort of a key part of his argument,

is that the Subjection of women is sort of the last

vestige a holdover of the era of might makes right. There are a couple of things

and you've you've made mention of the fact that you like talking about this particular work

with Cato's interns?

I do.

And part of the reason is this gives us a good taste of how liberals think about institutions, about how liberals think

about research questions, really, and think about how to address problems

that we see in society. A hundred percent yeah I sort of use it as a framing device for a talk I give the interns on the history of liberalism.

And yeah, it's really good for that purpose because Mill in this book is sort of doing what liberals do best.

He's looking at the customs and the laws of the society in which he finds himself.

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