Great Ideas of Philosophy

4. In this same connection, Mill argues that we develop a sense of duty, which is the chief motiveimpelling us to promote the general welfare.V. Mill’s position on freedom is also utilitarian. If the wildest, most pernicious and degrading view is false, we candiscover its falsity only by exposing it to criticism. If, instead, what seems to be patently false, reckless, anddestructive turns out to be true, it’s a truth we would deny ourselves were it to be silenced by the censor.A. John Stuart Mill presents the liberal position on freedom of inquiry, freedom of expression, the freemarketplace of ideas.1. It has become almost a mantra in modern times, but Mill sees in this freedom the surest engine ofprogress.2. No one’s ideas, by virtue of personal authority, take precedence over anyone else’s. Precedence is wonby being earned, and it is earned in the arena of utility, usefulness, what finally works in the publicinterest, for the general good.B. Liberty extends to a liberty of conscience, because anyone may be wrong and certainly may be wrong atthe level of basic moral precepts.1. Everyone has a right, in virtue of his or her own autonomy and dignity, to frame a form of life thatmakes sense to that person.2. There are limits on this, however; liberty must be used in such a way as not to limit the liberty ofothers.Recommended Reading:Mill, J. S. Autobiography. Penguin, 1989.Mill, J. S. On Liberty. Prentice Hall, 1996.Questions to Consider:1. Explain how one determines what is “useful.”2. Conclude what might be Mill’s recipe for cases in which what Smith takes to be useful, Jones takes to bepainful—and where Smith and Jones are whole nations?16©2004 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership