It is often argued that a theory of liberty which starts from the effort of the individual to attain happiness must break down because it fails to remember that society also has rights, and that these are necessarily superior to those of its component parts.
Harold J. Laski: “It is often argued that a theory of liberty which starts from the effort of the individual to attain happiness must…”
Editor's note · Context
Laski argues that a theory of liberty must balance individual rights with the rights of society as a whole.
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To deny novelty or grievance a right of expression is a certain, if, indeed, an ultimate, validation of the truth they contain.
He is able, accordingly, to indulge in the twofold luxury not only of preserving his own authority, but also of assisting the persons attacked to enter, if they so choose, the way of truth.
The only way to deal with novelty is to understand it, and the only way to deal with grievance is to seek a remedy for the complaint it embodies.
The essence of the persecuting position is always that the persecutor has hold of truth and that he would betray its service by allowing it to be questioned.





