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John stuart mills essay on liberty
John Stuart Mill Concept of Liberty
John Stuart Mill Concept of Liberty
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Liberation movements such as the 1960’s Civil Rights movement or the independence of India from England are great references in the method to attain freedom, and to see what freedom means to different types of people. To further understand movements as previously mentioned or other liberation events, a philosophical understanding of freedom is essential. As a rubric if you will, Epictetus and John Stuart Mill both have contributed significantly to the understanding of freedom. Both philosophers lived in very different times, thus providing different interpretation of freedom. However, they both reacted to their experiences to set the foundation for their interpretation. Mill’s interaction with the Victorian social reform and Epictetus experience as a slave, each experience provided the distinctness to the interpretation of freedom. With all in mind, both philosophers have underlining belief that individuals untimely have the choice to be happy, and that’s done by acting within the realm of freedom. In order to fully understand both interpretations of freedom analyzes needs to be done on The Handbook by Epictetus and Liberty by John Stuart Mill.
Beginning with Epictetus, The Handbook, in a nutshell the book illustrates how to be free and happy in through life’s obstacles. The implicit semi pessimistic and deterministic ambiance of the book is due to Epictetus experience as a slave. In particular the lifelong deformity that resulted from being a slave; Epictetus’ leg was intentionally broken by his owner, leaving him with a limp in his walk. Later, he moved to Greece from Rome and opened a school, is here when his philosophy was archived by a student. It is evident that Epictetus interpretation of freedom centers around internal fr...
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...y went against Mill’s beliefs; he had to be careful about his response to the reform. As alluded, Epictetus’ experience as a slave is portrayed in his philosophy. As a slave, his life was determined for him, and there was little to no independence. Worrying or acting upon things out of his control would cause distress, so believing in a deity can be interpreted as a coping method. In summary, context had a great impact on both philosophers’ method of understanding freedom because they saw in terms of personal issues.
In conclusion, Mill and Epictetus are not in philosophical harmony, but they both were responding in terms of their times and experiences. Consequently, in regards to understanding freedom, these philosophies complement each other because they both address different components of freedom. As a result, we can attempt to produce synthesis for freedom.
What is freedom? This question is easy enough to answer today. To many, the concept of freedom we have now is a quality of life free from the constraints of a person or a government. In America today, the thought of living a life in which one was “owned” by another person, seems incomprehensible. Until 1865 however, freedom was a concept that many African Americans only dreamed of. Throughout early American Literature freedom and the desire to be free has been written and spoken about by many. Insight into how an African-American slave views freedom and what sparks their desire to receive it can be found in any of the “Slave Narratives” of early American literature, from Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustav Vassa, the African published in 1789, to Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself which was published in 1845. Phillis Wheatley’s poetry and letters and Martin R. Delany’s speech Political Destiny of the Colored Race in the American Continent also contain examples of the African-American slaves’ concepts of freedom; all the similarities and differences among them.
This man had spent the better part of a year reading and rereading the Handbook of Epictetus, throughout that book the message is similar to one of the topics Sherman touches on, “Some things are up to us and some are not up to us,”(pg 2). Basically the circumstances maybe beyond our control, but ultimately what affects us is our judgements and the way we react. She makes a great point that we underutilize our ability to control ourselves when we let external things drive our happiness and that is the difference in so many people's lives, they wager their happiness and satisfaction on factors that should not ultimately
Throughout history, western philosophers have vigorously attempted to define the word freedom, to little avail. This is because the word carries so many meanings in many different contexts. The consequences of these philosophers’ claims are immense: as “free” people, we like to rely on the notion of freedom, yet our judicial system relentlessly fights to explain what we can and cannot do. For instance, is screaming “bomb!” on an airplane considered one of our “freedoms?” Martin Luther, in his “Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans” asserts that people are free when their actions naturally reflect laws and morality to the point that those laws are considered unnecessary. Immanuel Kant, in his “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?”, articulates a similar view: freedom for Kant is the ability to exercise one’s reasoning without limitation in a public sphere. A deeper reading of these two texts exposes that Kant’s and Luther’s interpretations of freedom are actually more similar than different. Indeed, they are mutually exclusive: one cannot coexist with the other and Kant’s views can even be read as a restating of Luther’s understandings.
When one hears the word freedom, one associates it with the words independence and liberty. It means that a person is able to exist freely without any limits, as it is their god-given right to do so. While this is true, the definition of freedom changes based on the context of the situation. During the time of slavery, freedom had a unique meaning to each person who was subjected to slavery. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass explores what the unique and complex meaning of freedom based off his experiences and knowledge of slavery.
...eing mandated for protection. Rousseau’s conception of liberty is more dynamic. Starting from all humans being free, Rousseau conceives of the transition to civil society as the thorough enslavement of humans, with society acting as a corrupting force on Rousseau’s strong and independent natural man. Subsequently, Rousseau tries to reacquaint the individual with its lost freedom. The trajectory of Rousseau’s freedom is more compelling in that it challenges the static notion of freedom as a fixed concept. It perceives that inadvertently freedom can be transformed from perfectly available to largely unnoticeably deprived, and as something that changes and requires active attention to preserve. In this, Rousseau’s conception of liberty emerges as more compelling and interesting than Locke’s despite the Lockean interpretation dominating contemporary civil society.
... changed the way Americans viewed freedom in the Nineteenth century. Freedom to them was much more than just being just being able to be seen as equal, they wanted to be physically treated as equal humans. Freedom was about the ability to be a self-reliant, self-governing, and literate individual who was seen and treated as a human. Douglas and Jacobs both showed their readers that being free was a God given right, not something that someone let them earn. Americans were all talk and no action when it came to the statement “all men are created equal.” One should be born free, not born being owned by someone else. Douglas and Jacobs’s slave narratives are haunting, but they caught American’s attention to how badly people wanted to be free. Both of these writer’s knew early on that there was one thing in life that everyone deserved, and that was freedom.
According to the Collins Dictionary, “freedom” is defined as “the state of being allowed to do what you want to do”(“freedom”). The definition of freedom is simple, but make yourself free is not easy. Concerning about some common cases which will take away your freedom, such as a time-cost high education attainment. In this essay, I shall persuade that everyone should try his or her best to insist on pursuing freedom. For the individual, it appears that only if you have your personal freedom, can you have a dream; for a country, it seems that only if the country is free, can the country develop; for mankind, it looks like that only if people has their own pursuit of freedom, can their thoughts evolve.
When authors write about the same subject, they usually have some similar things that they write in their text. True, some things are going to be different on what they are discussing about. The same is true with the authors who wrote about the topic on the struggle for freedom. When they do that, they usually put it in their own words. Even though each writer has different ideas, they both address the struggle of freedom in their society.
In order to understand how Mill and Locke came to the conclusion of how much freedom a person should possess, we must understand what a political thinker perceives as freedom and liberty. In John Locke’s writings, The Second Treaties of Government, he states that “all men exist in a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and person as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave or depend...
...ndividual equally. View your father like you would a stranger; as another human being living through nature. All in all, distress is avoidable as long as one is able to live life to the full potential in a tolerant manner. Eudaimonia to Epictetus is continuous recognition that one’s life is not determined by the individual. One can only control his/her thoughts. By accepting the world, one can reach happiness.
Compare John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau all dealt with the issue of political freedom within a society. John Locke's “The Second Treatise of Government”, Mill's “On Liberty”, and Rousseau’s “Discourse On The Origins of Inequality” are influential and compelling literary works which, while outlining the conceptual framework of each thinker’s ideal state, present divergent visions of the very nature of man and his freedom. The three have somewhat different views regarding how much freedom man ought to have in political society because they have different views regarding man's basic potential for inherently good or evil behavior, as well as the ends or purpose of political societies. In order to examine how each thinker views man and the freedom he should have in a political society, it is necessary to define freedom or liberty from each philosopher’s perspective.
In On Liberty by John Stuart Mills, he presents four arguments regarding freedom of expression. According to Mills, we should encourage free speech and discussion, even though it may oppose a belief you deem to be true. Essentially, when you open up to other opinions, Mills believes you will end up closer to the truth. Instead of just accepting something as true because you are told, Mills argues that accepting both sides will make you understand why your side is true or false. Mills is persuasive in all four of his claims because as history would show, accepting both sides of an argument is how society improves.
Given the original definition of freedom it can be inferred that while neither Winston nor the proles are completely free, the proles enjoy individual liberties while Winston does not. Our assumptions about human nature lead to the conclusion that we consider freedom to be important as it allows us to progress in our search to protect and promote ourselves.
. . he endured this position not only lightly, but joyfully” (Tolstoy 2384). This quote takes place after Pierre, one of the main characters, is locked in a French prison, where he is tortured, and nearly executed. This quote proves the thesis, mental freedom is more important, because it did not matter that Pierre was physically imprisoned, but that he was mentally free. This was feasible because Pierre kept an open mind throughout the entire novel, this is shown through the various religions Pierre switched through. Pierre was able to be mentally free, because he had an open mind, or as ancient Greek author Sophocles explains, “If my body is enslaved, still my mind is free” (Sophocles). Expressing a similar message of mental freedom is only possible if you have an open outlook towards everything. Likewise, if one were to keep a closed mind, then they would believe the value of their life can decrease, because they do not trust their own opinions. This would lead to a self-induced restriction of both physical and mental freedom, because this causes one to think their life is not good enough, meaning they will spend the rest of their lives trying to fix their life, instead of enjoying
An individual does not make a community, and a community does not make a society. In order to have a functioning and prosperous society, one must relinquish some free will in return for protection. According to John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, there are certain rights of the individual which the government may never possess. Centuries after the publication of Mill’s Essay, the court case Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegeta l , 546 U.S. 418 (2006) challenged the protective role of government against the free exercise of religion. In this instance, Mill would agree with the court ruling because, like his views concerning free exercise of will, government restriction and majority rule, both the court ruling and Mill’s ideals are concerned for the best interests of the individual rather than for the greater good of society.