On Liberty

One of Mill’s main arguments is that disagreement among members of society leads to truth and progress and is therefore positive and necessary. His discussion of this topic begins in the second chapter when he talks about opinions. He maintains that opinions are valuable whether they are true, partly true, or false. This statement assumes that objective truth exists in human affairs and insists that humans may approach it if they rigorously debate, consider alternative viewpoints, and revise standpoints. Mill writes, “[T]he peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race, posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it” (14). In talking about present generations and generations to come, Mill establishes that the stakes of stifling opinions are very high. Mill continues, “If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error” (14). This means that truth can be clarified by exposing falsehoods surrounding it. Opinions, therefore, might establish or augment truths, or help to illuminate them by comparison.