John Stuart Mill's Essay On Liberty

In John Stuart Mill’s Essay On Liberty, Mill makes many arguments regarding the liberty of thought. The overall argument of this essay is centered on the question of what kind of power the society should be allowed to exercise over an individual. Mill discusses specific examples such as, the oppression of public opinion, or expression of one’s individual opinion, and beliefs. He then goes on to discuss the argument of whether or not an individual should have the right to act on those opinions, and when authority has the right to limit someone’s over all individuality. It is important to understand that Mill was not trying to argue the freedom of people, but rather for the ability of people to think for themselves. Some of these arguments
In Chapter two “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” Mill looks at the issue of if people, or society over all should have the power to limit someone else’s opinion, or if public opinion as a whole should be regulated by government. Mill does not feel that an individual’s opinions should be silenced in any case. Mill’s main belief in this essay is that society should only have the power to assert authority over an individual if their behavior is harming others, but outside of that it is intruding on individual freedom. On one hand Mill argues that public opinion can be more damaging to individuality and dissent then any laws that could be put in their place. Although he believes that individuals should have the freedom to express their opinions he does not see it fit that the majority opinion in a society or the public opinion be forced upon others. A clear example of this is when Mill states “If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.” Mill shows a clear distinction between expressing an opinion, and forcing your beliefs, and values upon others through the use of
Mill also was able to devout a large amount of his time to express this topic in particular showing its importance. I also found that Mill uses very clear examples of previous examples of this, and of how this would be beneficial to both the society, and the individual, which is the point of his writing, to show people why they should support his idea of liberty. His writing was also able to support, and demonstrate his argument by showing how he could refute opposition to his idea. A strong argument must have this ability, and include the use of life examples that the audience can use to relate to, and properly see one’s point of view. Mill’s reasoning for individual freedom to opinion had all of these important characteristics, making it the strongest of the arguments he discusses in his