Similarities Between Wilson And John Stuart Mill On Liberty

While there are multiple differing views on how the world was created, there is only one defining way for how the world is today-- progress. Still, progress is not uniform in itself. John Stuart Mill believed progress was for the sake of liberty and stemmed from society whereas Edward O. Wilson found society’s progress from natural sciences. As each author differentiates their views on progress, it does not prevent the reader from comparing and contrasting the ideals behind the arguments. In his essay On Liberty, Mill defines progress through epistemology, human nature, and individual’s responsibilities; however, Wilson examines progress in his novel Consilience: the Unity of Knowledge through epistemology, the scientific method, and the enlightenment. Mill views progress through his epistemology, how something is known. He claims the only way to progress is to …show more content…
First, he declares, “Science was the engine of the Enlightenment” (Wilson 24). To assert this claim, Wilson examines different individuals who lived during the Enlightenment and made several scientific contributions to the progress of society. His most prominent case study is one Marquis de Condorcet and is called the “prophet of the Laws of Progress” (Wilson 15). According to Wilson, “Condorcet wrote as though social progress is inevitable, and wars and revolutions were just Europe’s way of sorting itself out” (21). Through examining Condorcet, he discovers, “His [Condorcet] vision for human progress makes little concession to the stubbornly negative qualities of human nature” (Wilson 22). Humanity’s progress is mainly hindered by their negative outlook on life and stubborn refusal to change. Wilson sees the Enlightenment as the main form of progress for society because of it’s consilience, multidisciplinary, material based principles, and prominent figures such as