We started class with a review of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the belief a society should focus on the making the most people happy. We had a lively discussion about Mill’s opinions on free speech. As a class we discussed Mill’s theory and applied to some real life issues, such as Westboro Baptist Church.
The new topic discussed was Mill’s opinion on the individual. More specifically, how does one make a “good” choice? I use good in quotations because there is no universal definition good. Mill feels that copying someone else blindly is not a good thing. Why, exactly, is it not good? It’s because what is correct for one individual can be wrong for another. Maybe the choice is not well understood by the individual, or it is not well suited for her and doesn’t educate or further her growth in any way. Mill would say making a choice because it suits you as an individual is a better than the choice that makes you fit in. But Mill realizes this type of reasoning is very rare which is why he discusses the Tyranny of the Customary.
Mill feels everyone is living under censorship. We aren’t allowed to make independent (read good) decisions because we must conform to customs. This doesn’t bother most people since the average person would rather live customarily because he or she doesn’t want to make independent decisions. Mill doesn’t like this at all! He feels one of the greatest wrongs is when a person models her behavior on what a person in a high positions would do in that situation. To Mill the decisive individual is rare because the average individual is king.
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