cid 127 What is the point of this essay The sole end for which mankind are warranted individually or collectively in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number is self protection The only purpose any government has for exercising force against an individual s will is to prevent harm to others In matters that concern one s control over their own well being the individual has complete control These principles apply only to those with mature faculties and excludes the old and young that may fail to make good mature moral decisions Liberty only applies to times where there are free and equal discussion Despotism is only good for barbarians who may need a ruler to lead their actions provided the destination is for the improvement of the people A person has a moral duty to uphold the well being of those around and preserve the society of which he is receiving protection A person may cause evil to others not only by his action but by his inaction and in either can he is justly accountable to them for the injury However holding a person accountable for the evil he did not prevent is a matter that would have to be judged based on the special circumstances of the case at hand cid 127 Mill on the appropriate region of human liberty liberties of another individual voluntarily Freedom of speech thought opinion expression etc even though freedom of expression may contain ideas which may concern others hindering this liberty is worse than accepting where it could cause harm cid 127 We should have liberty of our pursuits and to tailor our ambitions to our character of doing as we like as long as it does not harm or interfere with the cid 127 We have freedom to unite for any purpose not involving the harm of other individuals provided the individuals united are doing it while being informed and Utilitarianism is concerned with the greatest amount of good done which may not always include the greatest amount of people cid 127 Well being is not just limited to happiness and contentment Of Liberty of Thought and Discussion cid 127 Governments will often attempt to sway the expression of opinions so long as the government itself is not the organ of general intolerance The power of government itself is illegitimate No government has the right to control expression of opinions It robs the human race and generations to come cid 127 Mill asserts that such a silencing of opinions is bad because If the opinion is right then those who may not agree lose the option of exchanging error for truth If the opinion is wrong people lose the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced by its collision with error Unfortunately truth of a statement is not always met by belief of a statement by a everyone People s first assumptions is that they are correct For someone to refuse an opinion is because they think their certainty is the same as absolute certainty Judgment is given to men so they may use it The things thought true at one moment of time are often proved later to be false by later generations or later generations may find more truth in something else There is no such thing as absolute certainty but there is assurance sufficient for human life cid 127 Man cannot come closer to truth by experience alone but rather by discussion and experience And I would put reflection as well Discussion allows for us to examine our interpretation of our experience cid 127 Wise men gain wisdom by studying all modes in which something can be looked at by every character of mind If there is an argument to which both sides points cannot be refuted to a certain extent then truth most likely lies in the middle If one has good points but cannot refute the points of another argument one s own argument cannot be said to be the only right one There are some contexts in which words can bring harm to a society and where the freedom of expression should be examined before it is stated is situations such as when one is exciting a mob to do some bad things or to coerce someone less capable to do some harmful thing The necessity for freedom of opinion is thus 1 Even if an opinion is compelled to silence that opinion may be true To deny this would be to assume our own infallibility 2 Though a silenced opinion be an error it may contain truth Since the general or prevailing opinion on any subject is rarely the whole truth it is by the collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth be supplied 3 If the opinion be the whole truth unless it is vigorously contested it may by most who receive it be seen as a prejudice 4 Fourth if a true doctrine is taken as prejudice it may be lost or enfeebled and deprived of its effect on character and people s thoughts Of Individuality As One of the Elements of Well Being Actions should not be as free as opinions Acts of whatever kind that may do unjustified harm to others should be controlled by active intervention of mankind Free scope should be given to variety of characters short of injury to others and the worth of different modes of life should be proven practically For what more or better can be said of any condition of human affairs than that it brings human beings themselves nearer to the best thing they can be There is always need of persons not only to discover new truths and point out when what were once truths are true no longer but also to commence new practices and set the example of more enlightened conduct and better taste and sense in human life Education should serve to cultivate both a furthering of people for both the sake of the person and the sake of society If a person possesses any tolerable amount of common sense and experience his own mode of existence is best not because it is the best in itself but because it is his own mode cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127 cid 127