John Mills onLiberity
The fear that Mill expresses in On liberty about public opinion is communicated with three major ideas: individualism, liberty, and human nature. Public opinion has the ability of removing each one of these ideas from a democratic society, allowing for change that creates an environment that is unstable to new discoveries and ideas that are vital for evolution. This problem is deemed irrelevant by today’s democratic society. However the truth of the matter is that the threat of public opinion is still as great as it was when Mill wrote On liberty.Mill is timid of “public opinion” for one main reason: that public opinion causes loss of individuality in society. To understand this in its entirety, one person must first understand Mill’s logic behind this fear. Public opinion causes people to make the same decisions which others have already have made. This choice of following the same path is unconscious, due to the fact that pubic opinion is deeply imbedded in the truths that society hold; such as education. “Every extension of education promotes it (public opinion), because education brings people under common influences, and gives them access to the general stock of facts and sentiments” (98). In essence, a person beli
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
According Mill, , public opinion, human nature, mill suggests, public opinion individual, society society, liberty human nature, public opinion causes, democratic society, liberty human, opinion individual, feeling character, mills plan, opinion causes,
Approximate Word count = 930
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
