Mill´s Construction on Representative Government Essay

Within Mill's 'On Liberty' it is clear that he has a high regard for the issues surrounding freedom and it's limits. Mill is an advocate of negative freedom, as a liberal he believes that there should be no restraints on an individual's freedom unless it is hindering the freedom or health of another person. One of the main reasons as to why Mill values liberty is because it contributes to personal development. Thus Mill argues that in order for individuals to develop they should be able to perform 'experiments' in living', which allow individuals to go through a system of trial and error until they find their own

An example that applies Mill’s principle happened recently here on campus. We had to vote if we should have the open carry law here at school. The school gave the student body the opportunity to exercise our voice or concerns by taking a survey to determine whether we should have it. This made us grow as a community, and it allows tyranny of the majority take place. I personally don’t want to have to open carry law here at school, mainly I will feel uncomfortable knowing that there are people walking around campus with guns. I understand that there is a requirement that people have to have in order to have a concerned weapon, but that still doesn’t make me feel safe. On the other hand, I also understand the other side’s point of view, that

First, we will talk about Immanuel Kant. Kant 's theory was a deontological one. This meant that he believed that the moral worth of an action in the action itself rather than in the consequences of the action. Kant believed that the good action is one in accordance with our duty. Mill, on the other hand, was more of a utilitarian. He was a consequentialist, believing that the goodness of an action is measured by what its outcomes are. He locates the goodness in the amount of happiness it gives rise to and takes issue with Kant over what could be described as his "empty formalism".

First off, the morals and standards and how the higher class looks at itself in a society will most likely have most influence of morality in that society. Then, citizens of that society are more inclined to follow the rules of their religion and this also included in the rules of conduct for society. The basic interests of any society influence moral sentiments as a single piece. ¬ Mill also shows that it isn't the actual interests in someone that influence, but rather the good interests and bad interests that come from experience. Mill also says that there is really no full religious freedom. Mill believes that the most a society can impose influence on someone is to protect others. If someone places themselves in a position that is only dangerous to them, society has no right to according to Mill.

Mill’s ideas were quite revolutionary at the period of time that he was writing in as Jonathan Wolff states “For centuries people have been persecuted for worshipping the wrong god, or for not worshipping at all. But what harm did they do anyone but anyone or anything, except maybe their immortal souls?” (Wolff, Introduction to political

In “Considerations on Representative Government,” classical theorist John Stuart Mill explores a common misconception that if a good despot were ensured, “despotic monarchy would be the best form of government.” Here in the U.S., through the creation of a passive population with many frustrations but not the drive or ability to see them through, we see the encouragement of this misconception. During the 2016-17 Presidential election, we saw this misconception fulfilled by Donald Trump becoming the 45th President of the United States.

According to Mill, the biggest obstacle to freedom is the tyranny of the majority in the form of despotism of custom and societal pressure. Mill established that limits had been placed on power in the past, but this was only upon the ruler or sovereign. This was brought about by the ideas of thinkers like Hobbes and Locke. But

It can be assumed that due to his intensive lifestyle and lack of emotional expression, Mill suffered from severe depression. In the midst of his depressive state, Mill began utilizing arts as a way to explore his feelings, before overcoming his state (King et al., 2009). After establishing a friendship with Harriet Taylor, Mill was able to express his emotions, while furthering his intellectual work (King et al., 2009). Eventually, they married and Mill attributes much of his philosophical work to Taylor (Schultz & Schultz, 2011). The main themes of Mill's philosophical life work, regarding the advancement of psychology, are centred utilitarianism (King et al., 2009). As a result of the work of Jeremy Bentham, utilitarianism is regarded as a principle of moral basis, which states that actions should provide the greatest good for the largest amount of people (King, et al., 2009). However, Mill differed in his views of utilitarianism, focusing on the consequences of an act and judging its worth based on the happiness it provides (Shiraev, 2011). Futhermore, Shiraev (2011) describes Mill's view of utilitarianism as a basis for determining if an action is correct, and if and only if, it affords pleasure for all who are influenced by the event. Mill regarded only those individuals who were knowledgeable, as having the ability to decide whether an action is in the best interest of all (Shiraev, 2011). In Mills book ‘On Liberty’, Mill expounds his concept of individual freedom within the context of his ideas on history and the state. On Liberty depends on the idea that society progresses from lower to higher stages and that this progress culminates in the emergence of a system of representative democracy. It is within the context of this form of government that Mill

Mill is a libertarian, which means he believed that everyone's liberty and freedom should be protected, Mill views liberty as “The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs or impede their efforts to obtain it.” ( Mill )

Born in 1806, John Stuart Mill was the son of economist James Mill. From a very early age his father instilled a discipline of studies. When he was very young he began to read Latin, and comprehend algebra arithmetic. Being the oldest of the family, he was the one in charge of teaching his fellow siblings everything he had learned. He also studied Greek, and followed the works of Plato. Although learning these amounts of work may seem like a good thing, it was clear he could not handle such amount of knowledge. Missing out on much of his youth, and straying away from a typical kid’s life, it wasn’t soon until John Stuart Mill began to self-implode. His father’s plans was to create a genius, to carry on the legacy.

What is Mill’s argument for freedom of speech and action in On Liberty? Choose one example from contemporary free speech debates and explain how Mill’s theory would apply to it.

Mill’s view is that when given the “opportunity of exchanging” new opinions, individuals will be able to establish a “clearer perception and livelier impression of the truth” (24). Going off this notion, the permission of free expression throughout a society would allow for an entire population of individuals to begin contributing toward these exchanges of thoughts; consequently, said society would be able to progress at a quicker rate than if particular beliefs were prohibited or repressed because a larger amount of participation would lead to a higher chance of a new truth being discovered. Additionally, free and open discourse could prevent the formation of ‘dogmas’ about which Mill warns us. He uses politics as an example in his text, stating that a healthy political system is one which is composed of both “a party of order or stability and a party of progress or reform” (58). Without the radical party (progressives), the party of stability (conservatives) would be able to impose their personal doctrines onto an entire nation with no need to provide any rational explanation. Freedom of expression permits individuals to act as a counter voice against the customary beliefs of a community, which would then force the majority to logically defend these customs, thus eliminating the possibility of dogmas. Mill cites 19th century religious doctrine as an example of a failure of this process, mentioning how an English man in 1857 “was sentenced to twenty-one months' imprisonment” for saying words deemed offensive against Christianity (33). Mill claims that this forbiddance of opinions that opposed the Church can be blamed as the reason why the religion had “[made] so little progress in extending its domain” beyond European nations during the eighteen centuries of its existence (53). Using Millian philosophy, had Christians

conformism”i, and in accord with the tenets of the ‘harm principle’, he suggests that an individual “should be allowed, without molestation to carry his [or her] opinions into practice at his [or her] own cost”ii so long as he or she does “not make himself [or herself] a nuisance to other people”iii. Although Mill recognises that “it would be absurd to pretend that people ought to live as if nothing whatever had been known in the world before they came into it”, he provides a utilitarian argument in favour of his doctrine of ‘non-conformity’, and he asserts that conformity is both contrary to “individual flourishing”iv, and detrimental to the “diversity of character and culture”v that has “has made the European family of nations an improving, instead of a stationary, portion of mankind”vi.

On John Stuart Mill’s production On Liberty has not only became one of the most widely known political and philosophical writing, but also produces one of the fundamental political questions on finding the balance in between liberty, democracy and authority. Although Mill’s writing was deeply influenced by Bentham’s Utilitarianism philosophy, Mill’s theory in On Liberty emphasized more around the value of individuality, equality and liberty (Donner, 1991; Skorupski, 1998). All three elements focused on by Mill, are closely connected in democratic society, Mill’s major fear was the emergence of dictatorship based on majoritarian and conformist behavior within a society (Skorupski, 2006). This essay will focus on examining Mill’s liberal

What are the basic concepts of liberty each civilized individual reserves? What are the limits to which a person can accept and exercise such sovereignty? In the first chapter, “Introductory”, and the second, “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion”, J.S Mill displays such limits and provides an analysis and debate to the common concepts of how an individual works within a society, while simultaneously diverging into how society works with and against a sole figure. In On Liberty, he construes the conflict between liberty and authority and administers the historical diversity amongst social classes.