John Stuart Mills

‘defence Of Freedom’ Essay, Research Paper

John Stuart Mill was one of the great Utilitarian philosophers of the nineteenth century, along with his father, James Mill and Jeremy Bentham. They set out the original strands of utilitarianism and Mill was able to adapt it and smooth away some of its rough edges, coming as he did after his father and Bentham’s major works expounding the new philosophy. Mill was influential both with the governments of the day and beyond, with his profound debates on individuality and liberty still having relevance to the governments of today. ` `Mill was very much in favour of both human diversity of action and expression, and in his works he vigorously argued for both these freedoms. One of the major concepts he attempts to set out in his work is how far governments can legitimately curtail both these freedoms, developing his ‘harm principle’, one of the most enduring concepts of his work, to aid an understanding of this. It is in “On Liberty” that Mill sets out most strongly his ideas on individual freedom, both social and political, and in this text he sets out a comprehensive and profound defence of the freedom of expression. His argument is constructed by adding layer upon layer, all interconnecting, to complete his argument, and to properly explore the problems created for Mill’s theory by incitement to racial hatred, it will be necessary to explore his argument for freedom of expression stage by stage, from its roots to the completed defence of individual freedom. ` `”On Liberty” commences with a discussion concerning the tyrannies which are prevalent in human society, with Mill stating that these tyrannies need to be guarded against if mankind is to develop and prosper fully. Mill makes the point that tyranny need not necessarily stem from authority, although this does often happen, as oppression can also stem from the majority opinion.. This form of tyranny is “more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape” (Mill,1962:130). This argument is built upon in the second chapter, whereby this form of oppression is seen by Mill to be invalid, for social tyranny by the majority over the minority shows that there is a diversity of opinion (because a majority and a minority exist, instead of unanimous support). The majority, by tyrannising the minority, shows that it believes itself to be correct and that the minority should not hold their opinion, because the majority believe it to be wrong. This assumption of infallability put forward by Mill is a crucial element in both his work and this argument, and shall be more fully explored later. ` `Mill goes on to argue that social and political oppression is illegitimate, for “if all mankind [were united bar one] over an opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, then he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind” (Mill,1962:142). Mill makes the underlying point here that to suppress or crush a view is to crush a potentially benevolent development for society. Mill explains this point by arguing that if the opinion were true, then society would benefit from this knowledge, and if it were not true then the society would lose “what is almost as great a benefit; the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collusion with error” (Mill,1962:143) by crushing or suppressing this opinion. ` `Mill argues that it is only a few highly influential members of the society who judge whether an opinion is accurate or not. Their opinions are the deciding ones; it is their unquestioned judgements which decide the validity of an opinion, a state of affairs which puts them in the bracket of infallibility, but they are wrong “to assume that their certainty is the same as absolute certainty” (Mill,1962:143). It is from this state of affairs that oppression comes, as people become reluctant to differ from the perceived truth. Mill clarifies this point later in the text, by asking the question, “Who can compute what the world loses in [those] who dare not follow out any bold, vigorous, independent train of thought, lest it should [be] considered irreligious or immoral.” (Mill,1962:164). It is only by the development of differing ideas can a society obtain a clearer picture of the truth. Indeed, Mill goes on to state that “if opponents of all important human truths do not exist, it is indispensable to imagine them” (Mill,1962:164). ` `However, mankind’s perception of the truth cannot be relied upon as infallible, for one generation’s view of something may be radically different from a previous or future one’s, a point that can be illustrated by the fact that today we see the planets of our galaxy as all orbiting the sun, where the previously held notion was that the sun and all the rest of the planets orbited the earth. From this basis, therefore, Mill argues that regarding something as an absolute is problematic, and we should be hesitant before doing so, therefore society should respect differing opinions in order to progress. There exists a problem here, however, for it is not practical to exist without regarding at least some things as truth, for it is difficult to go about our day to day business without doing this. Mill’s answer to this is that although we cannot be absolutely certain about anything, there are “assurances enough for the purpose of huma