John Mill: Why freedom of expression is important

John Mill was a strong advocate for freedom of speech and objected to censorship. He claims that silencing the expression of an opinion would be robbing the human race and its posterity even if the opinion is false. Mill argues that hearing a false and even vile opinion allows us to have a "clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error" (1978, 16). In other words, the truth can be better understood by refuting an error. Moreover, Mill argues that most opinions are neither completely true nor false. He points out that allowing freedom of expression would result in the airing of competing views as a way to preserve partial truths in various opinions. Mill also supported freedom of speech because he argued that it was a critical element of a representative government to empower debate over public policy. He also argued that freedom of speech was instrumental in helping individuals realize their own creativity. He argues that without the guarantee of free speech, there is always the possibility that we are suppressing an opinion that may actually be true. Galileo was imprisoned by the Catholic Church for his discovery of heliocentric universe. Mill gives the example of Socrates who was sentenced to death for the crime of corrupting the young minds in Athens and of heresy. Socrates is widely credited to be one of the founders of Western philosophy and is renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics.

Free speech is also necessary for dissenting voices to illuminate the truth. Mill points out that "the majority of the eminent men of every past generation held many opinions now known to be erroneous, and did or approved numerous things which no one will now justify." (1978, 19) It follows then that there must be eminent men in contemporary times that hold opinions that future generations will view as erroneous. Thus, we must not suppress dissenting voices because their views may actually be correct.

Mill