John Stuart Mill Vs. Carl Schmitt

In this essay, I argue that John Stuart Mill and John Rawls make stronger arguments as liberal thinkers than Carl Schmitt does in his defense of state authority because they do not rely on theology in their works. With interest in Mill’s “On Liberty” and Rawls’s “A Theory of Justice,” it is impossible to ignore the liberal stand they take and the opposing views that Carl Schmitt takes in both “The Concept of the Political” and “The Age of Neutralizations and Depoliticizations.” According to Rawls, the “veil of ignorance” creates the pivotal point of his assessment of liberalism; apparently, the ‘veil’ ensures that “no one is advantaged or disadvantaged in the choice of principles” (11). Meanwhile, Mill’s focus is on “the tyranny of the majority” …show more content…
When democracy defines a society, then all persons would have a claim to the available fundamental "rights and liberties” without having to fight for them let alone coerce others for them (XII). For instance, during the antebellum period, the slavery system that placed people of color in bondage tainted the view of the United States as a land of liberty because a portion of its populace lacked freedom. Similarly, equality is subject to the distribution of resources and privileges without the “distortions of prejudice and bias” (Rawls 207). Again, on the institution of slavery, the status of a slave went hand in hand with various limitations that ranged from the person to his or her surroundings; for example, a slave could not be literate and his or her living quarters were subject to the whims of the master. Caucasians assumed a higher class in the social hierarchy; as a result, liberty and equality were myths, at least where the people of color were …show more content…
In the words of the philosopher, the totalitarian nature of the community becomes evident when the “society collectively” holds more power than “the separate individuals who compose it” (Mill 9). A perfect illustration of the presented idea is clear in the case of a flight of stairs that one cannot tell if it is for an upward flow or a downward one. Consequently, when one person begins to take the stairs going up, he or she would be alone and would portray the staircase as one leading to a higher floor inside a building. What happens when a mob suddenly appears on the top and begins to descend? Undoubtedly, the lone individual would have to switch directions and go with the majority because they are many and would overpower him or her if he or she were to try to resist. The same applies to the ‘tyranny of the majority,’ the consensus of the many becomes that of the few and robs them of their