0:00:28 > 0:00:32On row upon row of shelves in libraries like this one
0:00:32 > 0:00:34in the heart of the House of Commons, there are books
0:00:34 > 0:00:37on philosophy, society and politics.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40But there are only a very few authors who have managed to combine
0:00:40 > 0:00:44all three disciplines and seen their ideas adopted
0:00:44 > 0:00:45and sometimes put into practice.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Working as a political journalist at a time when politics is
0:00:48 > 0:00:52viewed with such scepticism, we asked some famous faces to
0:00:52 > 0:00:57choose those political thinkers they think really are worth celebrating.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59In this programme, we're going to look at those who have laid
0:00:59 > 0:01:02the very foundation stones of our British political system.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05We're actually going to start in a different library,
0:01:05 > 0:01:07locked in on some very old manuscripts.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26John Locke, whose portrait is behind me,
0:01:26 > 0:01:29was an early Fellow of the Royal Society.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33He joined in 1668, before Isaac Newton did.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Here in the library of the Royal Society in Pall Mall, I have
0:01:36 > 0:01:40in front of me letters that Locke wrote back to the Royal Society.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43One here from Montpellier, 1678,
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Observations Of The Moon, that he just thought would be interesting.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Here, in Paris, a letter written back, Observations
0:01:50 > 0:01:54On A Medical Quirk, a boy who appeared to have been growing horns.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58Here, a constitution for part of colonial America.
0:01:58 > 0:01:59Things like this became
0:01:59 > 0:02:02the foundation for the American Constitution.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06This is a man with varied interests and interesting things to say.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Today we'd call him a polymath.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11But I am off to meet a Labour MP who thinks his philosophies
0:02:11 > 0:02:16of politics are what make him really relevant and relevant to today.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18So let's start at the very beginning.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27Lisa, we have come to a nursery, which might seem a bit odd,
0:02:27 > 0:02:30but of course it is one of Locke's big theories, the tabula rasa,
0:02:30 > 0:02:34that we are all born a blank slate and accumulate knowledge.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37But when you were learning about Locke, what was it that excited you?
0:02:37 > 0:02:41That theory made a huge splash at the time, but actually what
0:02:41 > 0:02:44excited me was the theory of equality that Locke puts forward.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47We are in this nursery, surrounded by children,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49all of them with very different characteristics.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53But what Locke argued was that, for the purposes of political
0:02:53 > 0:02:57representation, none of those differences matter, we are all equal.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59So when I first picked up these books at university
0:02:59 > 0:03:02and found this radical idea in the middle of what is really quite
0:03:02 > 0:03:05an establishment figure in his thought, I thought
0:03:05 > 0:03:08this is a guy who is really worth reading.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12Those radical ideas get him into trouble with the establishment.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14I want to take you to the scene of what may or may not have
0:03:14 > 0:03:18been a plot he was involved in but certainly causes problems for him.
0:03:18 > 0:03:19Brilliant, let's go.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27Lisa, this is Rye House.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Well, it is just the gatehouse now, the rest of it is gone.
0:03:30 > 0:03:37But in 1683 Locke is implicated in a plot to kill Charles II,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40who is King, and his brother James, who will become King,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43will become James II. Locke has to flee, to the Netherlands.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48He doesn't come back to Britain until the Glorious Revolution
0:03:48 > 0:03:51and William is installed on the throne, William of Orange.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54It seems to me that Locke is adapting to those people
0:03:54 > 0:03:55who are in power
0:03:55 > 0:03:58cos they happen to believe the sort of things that he believes.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59Actually, Giles, I think
0:03:59 > 0:04:01you are looking at this the wrong way round,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03because Locke was writing for those
0:04:03 > 0:04:07people in positions of power, people who had the ability to change things.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11At times this makes his philosophy seem inconsistent,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15perhaps even a bit incoherent when you take it as a whole.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18The really exciting thing about Locke is that he wasn't just a thinker,
0:04:18 > 0:04:19he was also a doer.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23He lives through these tremendous times, huge religious turmoil
0:04:23 > 0:04:27and this battle for power between King and Parliament.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31His argument about the limits of power on the Sovereign changed
0:04:31 > 0:04:33what was to happen next.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Dr Elizabeth Frazer of Oxford University is clear,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39not only does Locke affect what happens next here
0:04:39 > 0:04:43but abroad too, by making a simple argument.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Locke is the great theorist of anti-patriarchy.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51He set out to argue that patriarchalist theory,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54which was very common in the 17th century,
0:04:54 > 0:04:59the idea that political power is the power of the father
0:04:59 > 0:05:03over his sons, it is the power of the husband over his wife
0:05:03 > 0:05:06and that is what the King's power is.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09He set out to show that that is false.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18So, Lisa, this is All Saints, High Laver in Essex,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20where Locke worshipped for the last 13 years of his life.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23He lived in the area and he is buried in the churchyard.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27But church is quite important to one of his principal philosophies,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30the separation of powers between church,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33government - in the form of the King - and the judiciary.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35The important thing about Locke was that he was
0:05:35 > 0:05:37concerned with the limits of government power.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41Instead of seeing the monarchy as ruling by divine right
0:05:41 > 0:05:46handed down to them by God, he saw power as resting with the people.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49It was this idea that paved the way for the American War
0:05:49 > 0:05:52of Independence and for the French Revolution.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54If you look at the American Constitution, you can
0:05:54 > 0:05:59see Locke written into every line of that document.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01It is surprising, really, that this most
0:06:01 > 0:06:06conservative of philosophers should end up pushing forward ideas that
0:06:06 > 0:06:10were tremendously radical and would have such a revolutionary impact.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Speaking about the church, he is very interested in religion,
0:06:13 > 0:06:14isn't he?
0:06:14 > 0:06:18That's right, he writes this profound defence of religious toleration.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21Locke might have been doing that for political reasons
0:06:21 > 0:06:24but the impact was to launch the first sustained
0:06:24 > 0:06:28campaign for religious freedom from inside the Church of England.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Let's see if we can go and find his grave which is in the churchyard.
0:06:33 > 0:06:39I think, if I am right... Yep, there he is.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41There we go.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45The plaque here was actually put together by the American
0:06:45 > 0:06:47and British Commonwealth Association.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50So clearly, they understand the importance that he
0:06:50 > 0:06:53has in the American political system,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56but what relevance has John Locke got to us today?
0:06:56 > 0:06:57I think he is hugely relevant today.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03His defence of toleration, which was aimed at religion but set out broad
0:07:03 > 0:07:08principles which matter so much with the far right sweeping Europe.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10But there is something more than that, Giles,
0:07:10 > 0:07:12that I think he will really be remembered for.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14He set out the foundation of Western democracy,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18this idea that government only derives its legitimacy
0:07:18 > 0:07:20from the will of the people.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23With trust in politicians at an all-time low and people really
0:07:23 > 0:07:26dissatisfied with politics as a whole,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28we could do so much worse than to revisit
0:07:28 > 0:07:32the writings of a man from the 17th century to find answers
0:07:32 > 0:07:36to some of the really challenging problems that we face today.
0:07:45 > 0:07:5250-odd years after Locke died, Edmund Burke arrived in London.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06It's fair to say the 18th-century political philosopher
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Edmund Burke, who lived in this street, wouldn't recognise it today.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12It is in the heart of London's Chinatown.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16But he would recognise the British political system as it is today
0:08:16 > 0:08:20because, according to a Conservative MP and his biographer,
0:08:20 > 0:08:22he is the man who shaped it.
0:08:25 > 0:08:26Burke didn't start out in politics
0:08:26 > 0:08:30but studied law at the Middle Temple, mainly to please his father.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34Jesse, how are you? Good to see you.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39So we are here in this magnificent Middle Temple Hall, which is
0:08:39 > 0:08:42where Burke lands and arrives in London studying law.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44Why do you like Burke?
0:08:44 > 0:08:46I love Burke because he is a wonderful writer,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49he is an extraordinary political thinker
0:08:49 > 0:08:52and he is a terrific campaigner against social injustice.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54In short, he kind of writes the textbook
0:08:54 > 0:08:56for what a really good MP should be.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58He is also, of course, the first Conservative, if you like.
0:08:58 > 0:08:59Yes, he is.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03He is the first man who really moulds Conservatism into a coherent
0:09:03 > 0:09:07- body of thought.- He studies here, he studies law, like lots of MPs.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09But he doesn't really like it.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13No, he loves the law but he is not keen at all on the Middle Temple.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16He seems to have found it a very narrow, dry education.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18He has got a lovely simile here where he says,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21"He that lives in a college, after his mind is sufficiently stocked
0:09:21 > 0:09:24"with learning, is like a man, who having built,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27"rigged and victualled a ship, should lock her up in a dry dock."
0:09:27 > 0:09:30I think he felt locked up in a dry dock himself
0:09:30 > 0:09:31while he was in the Middle Temple.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34He is very keen to get out into London
0:09:34 > 0:09:37and explore an expanding London, but he finds some important friends.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Yes, London is going through a phenomenal artistic,
0:09:40 > 0:09:41cultural and indeed sexual revolution.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43He is very keen to get out and explore.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47- Why don't we go and see one of the houses?- Excellent idea.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59Ah, so Dr Johnson's Withdrawing Room.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02What has Johnson got to do with Burke?
0:10:02 > 0:10:06Johnson is Burke's ticket to the centre of literary London
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and it is an amazing moment where Britain is kind of exploding
0:10:09 > 0:10:10with talent and thought.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13You've got Adam Smith revolutionising economics,
0:10:13 > 0:10:14you've got David Hume in philosophy,
0:10:14 > 0:10:18you've got Johnson himself in every branch of literature
0:10:18 > 0:10:21and then Burke is determined to leave his own imprint on politics.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23So what does he come up with?
0:10:23 > 0:10:26He comes up with the first theory of representative government
0:10:26 > 0:10:29and of party politics and of the duties of an MP.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32What is extraordinary is he doesn't just talk about it,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34he really puts it into practice himself.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36There is a great moment where he says to his constituents,
0:10:36 > 0:10:38"I am not going to kiss your boots,
0:10:38 > 0:10:43"what really matters is that I act on your behalf according
0:10:43 > 0:10:46"to my best judgment and not simply on your instructions." And that
0:10:46 > 0:10:49has become the kind of great doctrine of the way an MP thinks today.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52But doctrines fall when compromised
0:10:52 > 0:10:55and Burke treats two different revolutions in two different ways.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00At the time, Burke was horribly criticised by people who felt
0:11:00 > 0:11:03very let down by him
0:11:03 > 0:11:06because he had a reputation of being a reformer,
0:11:06 > 0:11:11as being progressive and his reaction to the French Revolution
0:11:11 > 0:11:15was simply reactionary. Very, very extreme.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18He went from one extreme to the other and people were shocked.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23We have come to Brooks's Club, just in the heart of St James's.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25Burke becomes a member here, he is very pleased about that.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27But I have a confusion.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Burke is in favour of the American Revolution
0:11:30 > 0:11:32but not in favour of the French Revolution.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Burke becomes a member of Brooks's in 1782, he is
0:11:34 > 0:11:37an Irishman from the wrong side of the tracks so he's absolutely
0:11:37 > 0:11:41thrilled by that and by the social acceptance that it means to him.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Now, what is so fascinating about it is that Brooks's is the home
0:11:45 > 0:11:48of the reformers, the Whigs.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50Burke really believes in reform and not revolution
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and the reason why he supported the American colonists is
0:11:53 > 0:11:55because he thinks their way of life needs to be
0:11:55 > 0:11:59preserved against Crown imperial power.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01The reason he is against the French Revolution is
0:12:01 > 0:12:04because he thinks society is being overturned by a violent upheaval
0:12:04 > 0:12:06and that is what he opposes so strongly.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Reform is important because we don't have a revolution.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11No, in Britain we don't have a revolution.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14We come close to one in the 1810s and '20s but we never have it.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18We have the Great Reform Act in 1832 and then the Second Reform Act
0:12:18 > 0:12:20in 1867.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25Those are the two great steps towards modern parliamentary democracy.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28Speaking of that, let's go to the heart of modern parliamentary democracy
0:12:28 > 0:12:30and find out what his relevance is today.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40We started in a magnificent hall.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43We are ending in one - this is Westminster Great Hall.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Why have you brought us here, why Burke?
0:12:46 > 0:12:48Well, it is a very important place for Burke
0:12:48 > 0:12:52because it is in this building that Burke drags back the Governor General
0:12:52 > 0:12:54of India, Warren Hastings, in the mid-1780s.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57They have been filling their boots in the East India Company
0:12:57 > 0:13:01and he is determined to put them on trial for public accountability.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04What relevance does Burke have to what happens in the chamber today?
0:13:04 > 0:13:08It is really Burke who is driving the line between a state intervention
0:13:08 > 0:13:12we can't afford and cutting markets loose in a way that damages society.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15So it is through Burke we understand social renewal.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Without him, we really can't understand modern politics at all.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29If you have Burke then you really also have to have Thomas Paine.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45You know, there can't be that many political philosophers that
0:13:45 > 0:13:47end up with a beer named after them.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49But they like Tom Paine here in Lewes,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53largely because he lived here, alongside New York and Paris.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57But the local MP likes him, not just because he was a resident,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00but because Paine's heady mix of reason,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04rights and justice is very much to his political taste.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09Paine was sent to Lewes as a customs and excise man
0:14:09 > 0:14:12so it seems apt to meet outside the house he made his own
0:14:12 > 0:14:17for six years, whilst Norman Baker explains Paine's appeal.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20I admire Thomas Paine tremendously. He stood for what he believed in,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22he wasn't prepared to bend with the prevailing wind.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24He stood for rights, for justice.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27As he put it himself, simple facts, plain arguments and common sense.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30He was a citizen of the world, an absolutely inspirational concept
0:14:30 > 0:14:34for people who want to be free of nation states.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37His theory is a theory of rights
0:14:37 > 0:14:40and the theory of rights that he bequeathed to us is basically
0:14:40 > 0:14:44the one that we now have in our human rights institutions.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Lewes may look chocolate-box pretty
0:14:48 > 0:14:51but it's always had a character that made town and man a perfect match.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Lewes has always been rather a bolshie place,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56which I rather like about it.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58It has always been prepared to challenge the establishment.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02Go back to the Battle of Lewes in 1264, which led to the first time
0:15:02 > 0:15:05the power of the King was checked and the first parliament established.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07You've got bonfire celebrations here in Lewes.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Tom Paine suited Lewes and Lewes suited Tom Paine.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14With almost Lewesian logic, Thomas Paine,
0:15:14 > 0:15:19our great political thinker, thinks politics has a very limited role.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23For Paine, politics and government has one role only
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and that is to uphold the rights of individuals.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29It has got no business anywhere else.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33So here we are at this fantastic bowling green, which has been
0:15:33 > 0:15:35here for centuries. Unique to Lewes.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37And of course, Tom Paine himself was a member,
0:15:37 > 0:15:38would have bowled from here.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42- Right, OK. On this very spot? - It could even be this very spot.
0:15:42 > 0:15:43Go on, then, give it a go.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49What do you think Paine is telling us in his works?
0:15:49 > 0:15:53I think he is saying that we should base what we do on freethinking,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57on reason and respect the individual and not be hemmed in
0:15:57 > 0:16:00by the tramlines of established orthodoxy which applied...
0:16:00 > 0:16:03That's an excellent shot!
0:16:03 > 0:16:06And does he get into trouble for saying all of this?
0:16:06 > 0:16:11Yes, because most people would bend and go with the flow. He didn't.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Despite an immense contribution to the French Revolution
0:16:13 > 0:16:16and to the US Constitution, he ended up a pauper.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19- Just six people at his burial. - Think you won that one.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23- I think that is bang on. - It is bang on!
0:16:25 > 0:16:30His ideas inspired revolution and a constitution in America and later
0:16:30 > 0:16:34in France, where he was so involved he was even elected to the assembly.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39But relentless focus on rights does have its drawbacks.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42By the rights of man, he definitely meant the rights of MEN.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46Women's rights and feminist rights have been a problem
0:16:46 > 0:16:49theoretically and politically ever since.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52There is also just a more general problem with
0:16:52 > 0:16:56the idea of rights which is that it treats us as individuals,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59it can be seen to put us into competition with one another,
0:16:59 > 0:17:04it can be seen to lead to a litigious society, and Paine is
0:17:04 > 0:17:11accused of having ignored community, the relationships between us.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16But in the town pub where Paine drank and debated, there is
0:17:16 > 0:17:19an argument that his thinking still resonates today.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Actually, it is of huge relevance because he was very modern
0:17:22 > 0:17:24for his time, which perhaps was an oddity then.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27But what he is talking about is very relevant today.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30He didn't like governments, he called them a necessary evil at best,
0:17:30 > 0:17:31intolerable at worst.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33He wanted to make sure the balance between the state
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and individual was framed towards the individual, which is a very
0:17:36 > 0:17:38modern way of looking at things.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41He was very suspicious of unelected bodies, the House of Lords,
0:17:41 > 0:17:42the monarchy.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45We're still wrestling with the House of Lords now, aren't we?
0:17:45 > 0:17:46- Here's to Tom Paine.- Cheers.
0:17:51 > 0:17:52From Paine's Rights Of Man,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56we turn to Mary Wollstonecraft's rights of women.
0:18:02 > 0:18:03It is unusual, isn't it?
0:18:03 > 0:18:07A very modern, daubed-on-a-wall style portrait
0:18:07 > 0:18:09of an 18th-century philosopher.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14But this is Mary Wollstonecraft, a campaigner for women's rights,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17equality and education, who was well ahead of her time.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22I am here in London to meet an MP who was a fan of hers long before
0:18:22 > 0:18:26her party made her a spokesperson on just those kinds of issues.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31For someone who questioned
0:18:31 > 0:18:34so much about the norms of the society they lived in, it is odd
0:18:34 > 0:18:39we should start her story in a church that she regularly attended.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43So, Gloria, here we are in the pew she sat in, in the church she
0:18:43 > 0:18:47worshipped in, that boasts itself it is the birthplace of feminism.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49I guess it is a bit of a no-brainer,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52but why do you like Mary Wollstonecraft?
0:18:52 > 0:18:55I remember first reading about Mary Wollstonecraft
0:18:55 > 0:18:57when I was an undergraduate at university.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01She was the first feminist, the first person to say,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04"Actually, no, women are not inferior to men."
0:19:04 > 0:19:08And remember, she was saying this at a time, in a century,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11where political thinking, political writing, philosophy,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13totally dominated by men.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16She was a pioneer in a man's world.
0:19:16 > 0:19:17You know, I work in politics
0:19:17 > 0:19:21so I know about what it is like to speak out in a man's world.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Thank you, Mary Wollstonecraft, you started us off.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28She is a very important philosopher of education
0:19:28 > 0:19:33and if we think of the field that we now know as cultural studies,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37opening up that question of the relationship between culture,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40society and state, it is all there in her book.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43Gloria, I brought you to London's oldest brick terrace
0:19:43 > 0:19:44but there is a reason.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48At the time Mary Wollstonecraft is living in Newington Green,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51this is the home of the minister of the church where we were at,
0:19:51 > 0:19:52Richard Price.
0:19:52 > 0:19:53But he also hosts loads of
0:19:53 > 0:19:56great Enlightenment thinkers at this house.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Of course, Mary Wollstonecraft writes her seminal work,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01the Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman,
0:20:01 > 0:20:05just a year after Thomas Paine has written his Rights Of Man.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08And he was talking about the rights of men.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11As you say, this was the Enlightenment.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15An age where thinkers were turning their back on religion,
0:20:15 > 0:20:17tradition, folklore and saying,
0:20:17 > 0:20:21"Actually, where it's at is science, it's reason, it's logic."
0:20:21 > 0:20:26Mary Wollstonecraft's point was that, if reason is where it's at,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28how can women be confined to their traditional roles?
0:20:28 > 0:20:32They should be able to use their talents in the same way as men.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36However, they're not, because they're not educated, and she said,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39"I want them to be taught to think."
0:20:39 > 0:20:42On that, she practised what she preached.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51It was just around here that she set up a girls' school.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55There is a plaque just over there which commemorates it.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00It was during her time at the school where she writes her first book.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02Ah, yes, Thoughts On The Education Of Daughters.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07Yes, which peculiarly was a kind of guide to female manners.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11Nonetheless, she earned £10, she was very pleased about this.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14In fact, in letters which have been published subsequently,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17there is a letter to her sister which she wrote a year after,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21saying, "I hope you have not forgot I am an author."
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Whatever Mary thought of herself,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27what others have thought of her has changed over time.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30She was vilified as a feminist.
0:21:30 > 0:21:37She was then sainted as a figure of the radical Romantic movement.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41She was understood to be the founder of liberal feminism with her
0:21:41 > 0:21:43emphasis on rights.
0:21:43 > 0:21:49I now think we are coming to a point where scholars and historians
0:21:49 > 0:21:52are able to get to grips with the complexity of her work.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Gloria, this is the memorial to Mary Wollstonecraft.
0:21:56 > 0:21:57She is not actually buried here.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59She dies tragically young, 38,
0:21:59 > 0:22:0411 days after giving birth to Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07But what seems to be really sad about her is her reputation
0:22:07 > 0:22:08gets buried with her.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12Her reputation was trashed as some kind of immoral fanatic.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15That is because of the decisions she made in her personal life.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18She had an affair with a married man and she knew he was married.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23She had a child out of wedlock, which was big news in those days.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Those things were kind of used by some, many in fact,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28as a stick to beat her with.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31That attitude seems to last for almost a century.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33It is relatively recently that academics have gone back
0:22:33 > 0:22:36and said, "Hang on, let's just go and look at what she was saying."
0:22:36 > 0:22:39The issues in her personal life, which she wrote about too,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42are still the challenges that we talk about as women today -
0:22:42 > 0:22:48earning a living, having a career, falling in love, raising children.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50Still the very same challenges we face today.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52And that makes her pretty special.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55She knew she was special, she knew she was exceptional.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59In fact, she once said, "I was not born to walk in the beaten track."
0:22:59 > 0:23:01She wasn't short on self-confidence.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03That's very true!
0:23:06 > 0:23:10So far our thinkers have been pre-19th century,
0:23:10 > 0:23:12but not so JS Mill.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23One of the biggest political debates of our time is
0:23:23 > 0:23:28freedom of speech, what are we at liberty to say and think?
0:23:28 > 0:23:29In the context of that debate,
0:23:29 > 0:23:33I have come to Kensington Square to talk to a commentator
0:23:33 > 0:23:37and journalist about why he thinks now is the right time to
0:23:37 > 0:23:42visit the works and thoughts of the philosopher who lived here, JS Mill.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50- Morning, Toby.- Good morning.- Foul morning, but this is Mill's house.
0:23:50 > 0:23:51Why do you like Mill so much?
0:23:51 > 0:23:54JS Mill was the first political philosopher I read,
0:23:54 > 0:23:59aged 17, as part of preparing for my Oxford interview.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04I was a punk anarchist at the time and Mill very clearly articulates
0:24:04 > 0:24:10these principles which circumscribe the limits of state action.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13As a teenage anarchist, I found that really appealing.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16That's you as a teenager being educated, but of course
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Mill's education is very important as well.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24Yes, Mill had a very unusual education. He was taught Greek
0:24:24 > 0:24:28at the age of three, was reading Plato in the original aged 10.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31His father, who home-schooled him, James Mill,
0:24:31 > 0:24:36was a disciple of Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40James Mill also co-founded University College London.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Mill completed his education by attending lectures
0:24:43 > 0:24:45as a teenager at UCL.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48At least that's inside, so let's go there now.
0:24:50 > 0:24:56JS Mill's theory of freedom is cogent and powerful and readable.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58He was courageous,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02he stood up for the rights of women in a hostile environment.
0:25:02 > 0:25:08He changed himself, getting over an unhappy childhood.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11And here's why he's really important today,
0:25:11 > 0:25:16he did that by educating himself, or re-educating himself.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21For him, education is absolutely central to life.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26Toby, you mentioned Jeremy Bentham, and there he is, that really is him.
0:25:26 > 0:25:27His skeleton, at least.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29They had to remove his head because it was a bit gruesome,
0:25:29 > 0:25:34and put the waxwork on. But he is the founder of utilitarianism.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37Mill's father is a disciple of his but JS Mill has
0:25:37 > 0:25:39a sort of crisis about it. Tell me what happens.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44At the age of 20, Mill had what he described as a nervous breakdown.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46He'd had this difficult experience
0:25:46 > 0:25:49in his childhood of being brought up in a household in which
0:25:49 > 0:25:52his father and all his father's intellectual companions were
0:25:52 > 0:25:54completely beholden to this man.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59I think one of the reasons Mill devoted his life to resisting
0:25:59 > 0:26:03intellectual oppression in all its forms was because of
0:26:03 > 0:26:06the intellectually oppressive atmosphere in his childhood home.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08So that of course is Bentham,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11let's go and have a look at JS Mill himself.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19This is Temple Gardens, along the Embankment.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22It has to be said, you have to have a good look around.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25There are loads of statues, it takes some finding.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29But there he is, JS Mill.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33They have put up a statue to him, but what is his great claim to fame?
0:26:33 > 0:26:37Well, he wrote a number of celebrated essays on subjects
0:26:37 > 0:26:40like utilitarianism and representative democracy.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45He was an MP. He was the first MP, I think, to call for votes for women.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50But his great claim to fame is his essay entitled On Liberty,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53in which he articulates what has become known as the harm principle,
0:26:53 > 0:26:58which has become one of the touchstones of libertarianism.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03The principle is that the only justification for restraining
0:27:03 > 0:27:07an individual, for the state interfering in an individual's life
0:27:07 > 0:27:10and preventing him from doing something against his will,
0:27:10 > 0:27:12is to prevent harm to others.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17Over his own mind and body, the individual should be sovereign.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21Mill wasn't just a philosopher but also an MP,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24though he wasn't as radical a politician as he was a thinker.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29For Mill, politics is just as it is.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34He accepts the politics of his time, which is striking in someone
0:27:34 > 0:27:35who is so unconventional
0:27:35 > 0:27:39and who refuses to be hidebound by the values of his day.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42So, Toby, he is a Victorian political thinker.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Does he have any relevance to us today?
0:27:45 > 0:27:50One of the points that Mill made most forcefully is that democracy
0:27:50 > 0:27:52and liberty don't always go hand in hand.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Indeed, they are often in conflict.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59There ought to be certain carefully defined spheres
0:27:59 > 0:28:04into which the state shouldn't be able to intrude.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07And part of that sphere should obviously be free speech.
0:28:08 > 0:28:14The harm principle is quite useful when it comes to delineating
0:28:14 > 0:28:18the limits of what the state's power should be.
0:28:18 > 0:28:19When it comes to, for instance,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22whether we should ban Page 3 or prohibit
0:28:22 > 0:28:26the expression of misogynistic points of view on Twitter,
0:28:26 > 0:28:28we should ask ourselves, will banning
0:28:28 > 0:28:32and prohibiting that behaviour cause more harm than allowing it?
0:28:32 > 0:28:36I think Mill's answer is that yes, in almost every case it is.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39I think it is important to remind Parliament of that,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41particularly now.
0:28:41 > 0:28:42Speaking of freedom of speech,
0:28:42 > 0:28:46I feel free to say, thank God it has stopped raining!
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Next time, we will look at those who built on these foundations
0:28:51 > 0:28:55to make a modern contribution to our political world.