Wednesday Wisdom

WHO

John Stuart Mill was born on May 20, 1806, in London, into an intellectual and reformist family. His father, James Mill, was a historian and economist and a close associate of the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham. He was educated at home by his father, who imposed a rigorous and highly structured curriculum. By the age of three, Mill had learned Greek, and by eight, he was proficient in Latin, history, and mathematics. His education focused heavily on the works of classical authors, political economy, logic, and philosophy, and he was trained to become an advocate for utilitarian ideology.

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that asserts that the morally right action is the one that maximizes overall happiness or well-being. It is based on the principle of utility, often summarized as "the greatest good for the greatest number." It was first presented by Jeremy Bentham in 1791 and served as a secular moral structure that looked to benefit the most amount of people in a society. Utilitarianism evaluates actions based on their consequences, focusing on the outcome that generates the most pleasure or minimizes pain for the majority of people involved.

What he produced

John Stuart Mill discusses truth and free expression in his book On Liberty, published in 1859. In particular, Mill argues for the importance of free speech in the second chapter, titled "Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion."

Mill argues that even unpopular or controversial opinions should be freely expressed because they may contain truth or some part of the truth. Silencing any opinion is harmful because: We can never be completely certain that the opinion we suppress is false. History is filled with examples where widely accepted views were later proven wrong. Allowing all opinions to be expressed creates a “marketplace of ideas” where falsehoods can be exposed, and truth can emerge. If an idea is false, it will be challenged and ultimately corrected through open debate. If it is true, suppressing it only deprives society of knowledge. He writes “The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race... 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.”

Mill believes that the free exchange of ideas fosters personal and intellectual growth. Engaging with opposing views challenges people to think critically and deeply about their own beliefs. He argues that people who are never exposed to opposing ideas may hold their opinions without understanding them fully. Free expression, even when it involves error, sharpens people's understanding of their own positions and makes them more rational and thoughtful. He expressed this in “He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.”

In his book, Mill introduces the Harm Principle, which asserts that individuals should be free to act and speak as they choose, provided their actions do not harm others. This means that speech should only be restricted if it directly incites violence or harm to others. Mill believes in minimal restrictions on free expression, as long as no actual harm is done to individuals or society.

Relevance of Mill’s Ideas in 2024

In 2003, singer and actress Barbra Streisand sued photographer Kenneth Adelman and a website called Pictopia.com for $50 million in damages, demanding that they remove an aerial photograph of her Malibu mansion from an environmental project documenting coastal erosion in California. Adelman had taken thousands of photos of the coastline for scientific purposes, and Streisand’s residence was just one of many homes captured. Before the lawsuit, the image of Streisand’s home had been downloaded only six times, two of which were by her legal team. However, after news of the lawsuit spread, it generated massive public interest, and the photograph was viewed by hundreds of thousands of people online. The lawsuit, instead of protecting her privacy, inadvertently attracted more attention to the photo. Streisand ultimately lost the case, and the incident gave birth to the term "Streisand Effect", to describe how efforts to suppress information often have the opposite effect, causing the information to become more widely publicized.

Mill’s defense of free expression is highly relevant in contemporary debates over free speech, censorship, and the role of government and technology in regulating communication. His ideas caution against overzealous censorship and highlight the importance of diversity of thought in achieving truth, progress, and individual thought.

The “Streisand Effect” became a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences of trying to censor or hide information in the digital age. It also highlights what is known as section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and whether the internet has the same regulation as print and tv media. This law removed liability for internet platforms for what thirds parties say on their platform. The effect of the digital age and section 230 has been a trove of misinformation, uninformed opinions and conspiracies that will only get worse with advancement of technology like artificial intelligence. John Stuart Mill would argue that we need “intellectual humility” and that truth-seeking is central to human progress, and veracity is a fundamental ethical obligation. He advocated for a marketplace of ideas with reasonable debate without ad hominen attacks. Mill believed the marketplace would allow for correction of error and eventually promote the truth, as painful as it is sometimes in the short term. And… as we have learned from the “Streisand Effect”, suppressing information can often add fuel to the fire.

And now you know:

Thank you, Dad, for the gift of curiosity.

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science.

METAPHYSICS: Literally, the term metaphysics means ‘beyond the physical.’ Typically, this is the branch that most people think of when they picture philosophy. In metaphysics, the goal is to answer what and how questions in life. Who are we, and what are time and space?

LOGIC: The study of reasoning. Much like metaphysics, understanding logic helps to understand and appreciate how we perceive the rest of our world. More than that, it provides a foundation for which to build and interpret arguments and analyses.

ETHICS: The study of morality, right and wrong, good and evil. Ethics tackles difficult conversations by adding weight to actions and decisions. Politics takes ethics to a larger scale, applying it to a group (or groups) of people. Political philosophers study political governments, laws, justice, authority, rights, liberty, ethics, and much more.

AESTHETICS: What is beautiful? Philosophers try to understand, qualify, and quantify what makes art what it is. Aesthetics also takes a deeper look at the artwork itself, trying to understand the meaning behind it, both art as a whole and art on an individual level. A question an aesthetics philosopher would seek to address is whether or not beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

EPISTEMOLOGY: This is the study and understanding of knowledge. The main question is how do we know? We can question the limitations of logic, how comprehension works, and the ability (or perception) to be certain.

And now you know:

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science.