What Is Mill's Argument In Chapter 2

Mill argues in Chapter 2 of On Liberty that we need not suppress opinions, even if they are false, because they promote truth. Mill argues that the people or government should never use coercion in suppressing opinion because an opinion is a “personal possession of no value except to the owner.” This means that opinions only mean something to the one that is expressing the opinion. Unless the opinion is directed to harming others, there is no reason for it to be suppressed. But Mill thinks that the most important reason why suppressing opinions is wrong “is that it is robbing the human race.” Mill means that the suppression of an opinion hurts the human race because there is a possibility that the opinion could be true. If it is true and is suppressed, we are stuck with a false opinion. Suppressing an opinion because

These people, or authorities, do not have the right to suppress opinions. They are not the only ones that can judge opinions; everyone should be able to judge opinions. People who suppress a “false” opinion that their own opinion is the only correct opinion. Mill says that to deny listening “to an opinion because they are sure that it is false is to assume that their certainty is absolute certainty.” But no one can have absolute certainty. Mill is saying that each person that attempts to suppress an opinion all believe that their certainty is absolute, i.e., always right. If many people believe that their certainty is absolute, because there is always attempts at silencing opinions, then that means there is no absolute certainty. Mill is saying this because people and governments assume that there opinions are indubitable all the time; but they are dubitable because no one has absolute certainty. The only way we can know if an opinion is true or false is by challenging it against other