Idea Of Liberty In John Mill's Works

Starting with my essay I will briefly explain what does liberty means, and what it’s like to be a liberal. Liber originated from the Latin dictionary and it means free. Our nation’s first amendment in the Constitution of the United States of America and in the bill of Rights, is freedom of speech and in the the the first amendment we Americans have the freedom to choose what religion they wish to practice, they have the freedom to speak their opinion without fear, and the press have their freedom to be practiced as well without agitation.

Liberals are those that strongly follow the first amendment and support it. While conservatives are against it, for instance, the conservatives believe that religion should be practiced in school, abortion and same-sex marriage should be considered and not allowed, and etc. while liberals believe it’s a personal choice and everyone has the freedom to choose what to do or what to practice and no government should oppose their belief or credence upon the citizens. However, John Mill presented the liberty term and brought it up into the constitution, yet he still placed limits by declaring and speaking about the Harm Principle, which is really important for us to understand and to know. There are those that believe in the first amendment but don’t understand how to practice it in the right way and they may act recklessly without consideration and consciousness. You do have the right to practice your freedom and do whatever you wish to do, as long as you are not harming others and putting other lives in danger.as, for example, you have the right to drink, smoke without anyone interfering or bothering you. it ‘s true you are harming your self & health, but the government or law won’t interfere, however, if you are driving behind the wheels at high speed and endangering others’ lives then the law will get involved and punish you and enforce a punishment.

The main idea of opportunity and freedom has changed dramatically as time progresses. In many cases, the type of ruler changed from a dictatorship to an elected power with the use of the majority rule system. Minorities are often disenfranchised in the general public and lose their power. For example, throughout history, the mistreatment of African Americans has shown how one group of people can be victimized by a changing political system. Therefore, in a broader set of things, we may say that society is the oppressor who has imposed on the people their rules and customs.

John Stuart Mill was famously known for writing, three books that touched history and left a remark on this nation to be practice and used since 19th century till now, his books and work is still practiced by the government, society, and studied by students in colleges and Universities. On of the book he wrote was “On Liberty” where he spoke regarding to what limit or extend does the society have to enforce power over the individual? So, Mill strongly believes in liberalism and that everyone should be free to do whatever an individual want and no one should hold them accountable for anything they say, do or want. Unless there are issues that prevent them from doing so or holds them from practicing their freedom nonetheless it needs to investigate.

So by his belief of liberalism, he cleared it out by writing the two maxims of liberalism. The first maxim where speaks about that society has no power or control into telling you what to do, so you’re basically free unless than here comes the second maims, except when you do something that can harm others and the other civilians, that’s when society will take its place and hold you accountable. Like as I mentioned, at the beginning of my essay, you can by extensively alcohol drinking, you’re hurting yourself, however, you’re not hurting others so you will not be punished and you will not be questioned. Although, if you decide to drink and drive and risk other lives in danger because your care of others’ life is not very important to you, your understanding of freedom and liberty is not in the right place and you can’t exercise freedom nevertheless defend yourself with it.

Utilitarianism is the second book that was written by John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism fall in the umbrella of morality, morality is the choice that an independent take either its right or wrong. Morality plays a huge role in our society and in the term of Utilitarianism action, it is what brings happiness and satisfaction and whatever brings suffering should be excluded, so the happier choice of action we espouse is the right action we chose and according to Utilitarianism any action that doesn’t bring happiness and bring suffering it will be considered morally wrong and a person before taking action his morality should play a role in the choices that he/she will take. My thesis for Utilitarianism is if we, for instance, combine the two terms of theory, the value of theory and the theory of right action we will obtain a positive right Utilitarianism.begining with value of theory, it is the valuable things that bring us joy and happiness money, family, materialistic it indeed valuable and it brings us happiness, and the theory of right action is what gives out the most happiness. Both theories together they come out with Utilitarianism. Keeping in mind that what will make the majority happy is the right action, so don’t worry if you took the wrong choice or you thought you have made the wrong choice, but if with that wrong choice you are saving other and the majority of other people and bringing happiness and less suffering than you have taken the right action. So there is no right or wrong action it, only shows by the effect that it will bring out. According to Mill, Utilitarianism relates to liberty by having others take their freedom into making choices of what is better even if they believe it may be wrong.