Anthony William Whaley
14 October 2015
Political Theory
On, Experiments of Living
One of John Stuart Mill’s biggest contribution through his writings was his idea of the “experiments of living”. Mill made this contribution in his classic 1859 book, On Liberty. By “experiments of living” I believe Mill is saying to live life like a test tube; in Mill’s exact words, “different modes of life should be proved practically”. In other words, the ability to be able to do whatever you want, until it causes some sort of harm to another human being in order to determine the best way of living for the individual. There are a multitude of reasons why Mill believes this way and why he wrote about these “experiments of living”. Mill was a progressive …show more content…
His first and I believe his strongest argument was that the “experiments of living” theory encourages individualism. “It is desirable, in short, that in things which do not primarily concern others, individuality should assert itself (Mill 65)”. If you make decisions that don’t concern others and you make them on your own, then your own individuality will flourish. To be an individual is to be an American. It is one of the most fundamentally American concepts there is and we have fought for our right to freedom and to be an individual since our inception as a country some two hundred thirty nine years ago. When communism and socialism were gaining popularity that threatened to sacrifice even a little bit of our individuality we turned to some dark things and sacrificed our freedom in order to preserve the full extent of our individuality. Mills saw that and saw the “experiments of living” as ways to boost every American’s sense of individuality because you’ll be experimenting with your own life and not interfering with other people’s lives. It is likely that you would not choose the same path as your fellow Americans and you’d be forging a new path, and if that path failed or you made a wrong choice then you try again and again and again until you find the right path in life that works for …show more content…
In order to be true to our nature we must embrace individual spontaneity and we must make choices on our own, and not with the influence of societal custom. Mill states that in order for people to develop character they must have desires and impulses and make choices outside of the societal norm. People who simply follow in line have no character. "One whose desires and impulses are not his own, has no character, no more than a steam engine has character (Mill 65)”. Humans aren’t all the same and they were never meant to be all the same. Mill knows this but is also aware of the fact that genius is rare. Genius may be a rarity for humanity but in order for those select few to have a chance at accomplishing anything new, “Genius can only breathe free in an atmosphere of freedom (Mill 66)”. Human nature is a nature of discovery, or exploration and finding out new things about the world. Unless you have that atmosphere of freedom then the few genius individuals will no longer be able to flourish and a period of stagnation endures. Mill believes that it is a “despotism of custom (Mill 67)” that is stopping England from being creative and becoming a better country. With absolute power comes the need for conformity and for everybody to act the same way. If everybody conforms and acts the same, then creativity slowly
14 October 2015
Political Theory
On, Experiments of Living
One of John Stuart Mill’s biggest contribution through his writings was his idea of the “experiments of living”. Mill made this contribution in his classic 1859 book, On Liberty. By “experiments of living” I believe Mill is saying to live life like a test tube; in Mill’s exact words, “different modes of life should be proved practically”. In other words, the ability to be able to do whatever you want, until it causes some sort of harm to another human being in order to determine the best way of living for the individual. There are a multitude of reasons why Mill believes this way and why he wrote about these “experiments of living”. Mill was a progressive …show more content…
His first and I believe his strongest argument was that the “experiments of living” theory encourages individualism. “It is desirable, in short, that in things which do not primarily concern others, individuality should assert itself (Mill 65)”. If you make decisions that don’t concern others and you make them on your own, then your own individuality will flourish. To be an individual is to be an American. It is one of the most fundamentally American concepts there is and we have fought for our right to freedom and to be an individual since our inception as a country some two hundred thirty nine years ago. When communism and socialism were gaining popularity that threatened to sacrifice even a little bit of our individuality we turned to some dark things and sacrificed our freedom in order to preserve the full extent of our individuality. Mills saw that and saw the “experiments of living” as ways to boost every American’s sense of individuality because you’ll be experimenting with your own life and not interfering with other people’s lives. It is likely that you would not choose the same path as your fellow Americans and you’d be forging a new path, and if that path failed or you made a wrong choice then you try again and again and again until you find the right path in life that works for …show more content…
In order to be true to our nature we must embrace individual spontaneity and we must make choices on our own, and not with the influence of societal custom. Mill states that in order for people to develop character they must have desires and impulses and make choices outside of the societal norm. People who simply follow in line have no character. "One whose desires and impulses are not his own, has no character, no more than a steam engine has character (Mill 65)”. Humans aren’t all the same and they were never meant to be all the same. Mill knows this but is also aware of the fact that genius is rare. Genius may be a rarity for humanity but in order for those select few to have a chance at accomplishing anything new, “Genius can only breathe free in an atmosphere of freedom (Mill 66)”. Human nature is a nature of discovery, or exploration and finding out new things about the world. Unless you have that atmosphere of freedom then the few genius individuals will no longer be able to flourish and a period of stagnation endures. Mill believes that it is a “despotism of custom (Mill 67)” that is stopping England from being creative and becoming a better country. With absolute power comes the need for conformity and for everybody to act the same way. If everybody conforms and acts the same, then creativity slowly