John Stuart Mill, the famous 19th century English philosopher, has had a huge influence on the world we live in today. When he conceived of liberty as justifying the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control, he shaped the idea of America which in turn has shaped the idea of today’s democratic world.
So, when you read Mill’s On Liberty, a philosophical essay written in 1859, you already have an idea what you are getting into. He suggests standards for the relationship between authority and liberty, and emphasises the importance of individuality, which he considers prerequisite to the higher pleasures—the summum bonum of utilitarianism.
This holds particular value in today’s society where we constantly engage in the debate of freedom of expression. Where does individual liberty end and state’s interference begin? Mill argues that free discourse is a necessary condition for intellectual and social progress. Consider the following passage from the essay:
The peculiar evil of silencing an expression of opinion is that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collisions with error.
In Mill’s world, an individual should be left as free as possible. Governments, he claims, should only punish a person for neglecting to fulfill a duty to others (or causing harm to others), not the vice that brought about the neglect.
Thus, he gives you a liberal idea of creating a society, which may have its limitations, but the essay is still a treat, nevertheless.
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