Sunday, June 10, 2007
On Liberty
In John Stuart Mill's writing "On Liberty," he discusses the need for everybody to have an opinion even if the opinion goes against the widely help opinion of everybody else. He states, "But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an 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 (515)." In this quote, Mill is showing the importance that everyone's opinion should be heard. I agree with this because imagine the things that we as people could be without if we had not listened to the opinions of the people who brought these ideas forward. The fact that people do not speak up is because some are afraid that they will be ridiculed for what they believe so this could lead to the problem Mill makes mention of in the writing. People learn from others and benefit from hearing all different points of view on a subject. They are able to fully understand everything they will need to know about something. Mill also mentions this. That is why it is important for society to not restrict the speech that everyone is entitled too because if they do it could be more harmful to everybody then having the person speaking their mind.
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4 comments:
Very good insight into the nature of independent thought. I also very much liked the quotation you used to express Mill's ideas. Mills was a very important forerunner for many of the ideas we have today and I think that by his defending independent thought, he was defending his own ideas in addition to others.
Mr. Harper,
I agree with Jay on this. Mill's ideas and ideals about the importance of an individual having the right of expression is paramount for us today! I mean without Mill, perhaps I would not be able to post this comment 1) Because you might not be privy to freedom of speech 2) Because my opinions might have been relegated as unimportant due to the fact that I am out of the majority. Good post and a great selection!
-kyle
Robert,
You do a nice job of selecting quotations as the focus for your postings. This one by Mill is central to his ideas on liberty, and you make some good observations on it. I do wish you had dug a little deeper in your analysis and comments, though. You seem entirely optimistic about the ability of people to learn from others and achieve correct knowledge--there are plenty of examples from our society which might call into question such optimism.
I thought you did a nice job of shining light onto Mill's argument in "On Liberty". It is a very important argument and you make this clear in your response. The world would not be what it is today if brave men and women did not voice their opinion, even if it did not fit in with the popular opinion of the day. Good Job Rob!
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