Reading summary

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On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
In the article ‘On liberty,’ Stuart highlights the importance of granting ultimate freedom to human nature. He disagrees with attempts to coerce people’s behavior and opinions legally or through social pressure. He argues that the only time that coercion may be acceptable is when an individual’s behavior inflicts harm on other people (McCloskey 6). In this respect, he mentions that a person should have the liberty to act as they wish as long as they feel the adverse effects of their actions alone. Stuart justifies the significance of freedom through a utilitarian approach where he highlights the positive impact of freedom on people and the entire society. Specifically, mill relates liberty with the ability to grow and avoid social stagnation. He also says that the community is not exempted from its duty and that it has the responsibility to bring up a generation of people who are moral and rational. He claims that if the society finds itself with incompetent or immoral members then it has itself to be blamed.
Mill argues that when an individual passes the adolescence phase, the society ceases to influence his/her choice and no longer has the right to tell a person what decisions to make. He argues that liberty of opinion is essential for two main reasons. First, he claims that the unpopular view may be right and secondly if the idea is wrong, objecting it will enable people to understand their views better. Ideally, Mill pays too much attention to the individual, and he does not make a clear distinction between activities that only harm oneself and those that cause harm to others.

Thus, mill’s arguments do not provide an ardent justification of nonconformity as an affirmative good for the society.

Works CitedMcCloskey, Henry John. John Stuart Mill: a critical study. Springer, 2015.