Preview

Silenced In John Stuart Mill's On Liberty

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
171 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Silenced In John Stuart Mill's On Liberty
John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty” discusses the freedom of and the freedom of expressing all opinions by saying that any of the opinions that are silenced could either be partially or fully true and, that’s why they could silenced. I do not agree with Mill on this aspects because, some opinions in a society should be silenced for many reasons other than the fact they might be true. As Mill states that all opinions should be permitted on the condition that they are temperate and contribute to the “bonds of fair discussion” (Mill, 774)
One of the reasons for silencing opinions could either be that they are destructive to a society and silencing such opinions is necessary on this ground. Secondly, some opinions could openly offend minorities or

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Mill begins his essay by expressing a concern with the amount of control that society can exert over an individual 's liberty. Mill is afraid of the "the tyranny of the majority"1 and suggests that one should protect himself not only from the tyranny of the state itself, but also from the prevailing opinions of the majority. He says that the opinions of the majority become the rules and laws…

    • 2441 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    For anyone to place a limit on an American's right to express or suspend one's right's, is to be very dubious in being an American themselves! "Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties." (John Milton, 1644) in that quote, Senator Robert M. La Follette uses it to defend his right to speak out against the war. Furthermore, for the right for the citizens of this country to discuss issues without fear.…

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mill's argues for the Harm Principle based on liberty. He says that liberty must be protected and that is why we must follow the Harm Principle. He argues for the Harm Principle based on freedom of speech. Basically, what I got out of it, he says that no matter how badly the speech may seem immoral, it should be allowed regardless. It might help to add that we learned that Mills is a libertarian. Overall, Mills thinks that the government should not coerce people in to not doing…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There could be many reasons why people have to need to censor, and it usually depends on the type of government a certain country has and the type of citizens they have. And by type I mean by their race, religion, what they are interested in, what they do as a career, etc. A good example of this situation could be the book “Fahrenheit 451”. Besides from comic books and pornography, every single type of books are censored, from the religious texts to the fiction chapter books. Although books are the main things that are censored from this society, but without books, many other things have changed. Things such as it is illegal to be a pedestrian because people don’t have time to drive slowly and stop for others, therefore people drive really fast and if someone is pedestrian, they could get run over.…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Stuart Mill, author of the chapter “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” in the philosophical work On Liberty, outlines four main arguments of why society is impacted by the silencing of others’ opinions. Wayne Fuller, author of the chapter “Diffusion of Knowledge” in the work The American Mail: Englarger of the Common Life,” presents ideas that Mill would be able to apply his ideas to.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Comparing Devlin to Mill.

    • 1787 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mill perceives only one instance in which society is justified in interfering with or limiting the freedoms of its adult members, that being to prevent harm to others. Though Mill would…

    • 1787 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    John Stuart Mill once said, “The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time.” John Stuart Mill is one of the most prominent English-speaking philosophers during the 19th century. His works incorporated a huge range of topics in his articles and papers he has written, in which a few of them include A System of Logic, On Liberty, and Utilitarianism. Mill’s main goal when composing On Liberty was best seen by taking a gander at how he talked about his work in his Autobiography. Mill composed that he accepted On Liberty to show the significance to man and to the society, of an extensive variety on sorts of character, and the opportunity given to human instinct to extend itself in…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    John Stuart Mill, an English philosopher and a political economist, had an important part in forming liberal thought in the 19th century. Mill published his best-known work, _On Liberty,_ in 1859. This foundational book discusses the concept of liberty. It talks about the nature and the limits of the power performed by society over an individual. The book also deals with the freedom of people to engage in whatever they wish as long as it does not harm other persons.…

    • 1627 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Censorship fears dissent. When someone challenges a book they are worried by the different, and new ideas that a book can cause to be created. When different ideas are formed, now opinions form as well, and so does dissent. It is the goal of censorship to eliminate this differentiation in thought. It was precisely this censorship that Ray Bradbury was looking at when he wrote Fahrenheit 451. He looked at what would happen if all books were banned, instead of just books that people found offensive. The result was a dark and oppressive society that was devoid of any free thought and new ideas besides those created by the presiding powers that controlled the media. Bradbury was writing about the future that he saw occurring based on the increasing…

    • 1910 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Overall, as Roger Rosenblatt stated and explained in his article defending the freedom of speech, the United States must not procreate censorship of any greater extent on its citizen’s voices. In fact, “The Founding Fathers…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mill Shared Humanity

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mill feels strongly about people being free to express their opinions. There are a few reasons Mill states of why it is so important to society and for shared humanity. First off it is healthy for the human mind individually. Shared humanity is about being there for others and being kind for no reason. So by listening and helping and individual feel great mentally, it shows that is important to shared humanity. If people were not to listen or deny people of their right to express their…

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The first and most fundamental principle Mill holds is outlined in the introductory chapter and describes the necessity for man to be free over “Over himself, over his own body and mind” (Mill, 1859: 31). Individual liberty is not only considered personally fulfilling, but also beneficial to the progress of civilisation for “Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest” (Mill, 1859: 33). It is important to note that Mill does not endorse freedom of expression for its own sake but for the greater purpose of stimulating discourse “His argument for liberty of expression is in fact an argument for liberty of discussion” (Larvor, 2006: 3) To support his claims, he…

    • 1306 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mill, John S. "Liberty of Thought and Discussion." American Government. Comp. Peter Woll. New York: Longman, 2002. 98-103.…

    • 4864 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    This results in Mill’s claim that a Government’s sole responsibility is to represent the interests of its people: “Those interests, I contend, authorize the subjection of individual spontaneity to external control only in respect to those actions of each which concern the interest of other people” (On Liberty 139). He claims that there are certain situations where it is better to have legal remedies than condemning people morally. In these instances he believes Government to be beneficial to society as it promotes the higher good of freedom. Furthermore, he asserts that laws should be made to protect people from engaging in actions that have been tried since the beginning of time and have proven to be harmful (On Liberty 141).…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mill On Liberty Analysis

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The freedom of opinion, and the further freedom of expression that it entails, is a key element of Mill’s theory in On Liberty. Mill explores the need for these liberties to be unhindered by any authority, in order to have a society that strives towards the accumulation of knowledge. Mill asserts this claim using four key arguments that refute the suppression of any opinions and promote a vigorous struggle amongst ideas that will reveal the truth in contesting theories. Without this competition amongst opinions, Mill claims that many social doctrines will “be in danger of being lost or enfeebled” (pg.116) because it’s adherents will not have to fight for legitimacy. These arguments lead Mill to claim that for liberty to be at its most effective,…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays