《论自由·第四章·社会凌驾个人之权力的限度》第1节
What, then, is the rightful limit to the sovereignty of the individual over himself? Where does the authority of society begin? How much of human life should be assigned to individuality, and how much to society? Each will receive its proper share, if each has that which more particularly concerns it. To individuality should belong the part of life in which it is chiefly the individual that is interested; to society, the part which chiefly interests society.
注释摘要
这段文字是第四章的开篇。密尔在前面几章已经为思想和意见自由做了长篇辩护，并论证了个性作为人类福祉的要素之一，值得加以保护。到这里，他要接上链条，正面回答本书最核心的实践问题：个人对自己生活的主导权，其合理边界究竟落在哪里。他需要把一个笼统的原则转化为一套可操作的划分标准，否则此前的讨论很容易被反驳成无政府主义或极端自私的个人放任。这几句话的论证任务，正是以…