On Liberty: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Mill says that having established the reasons why people should be free to form their own opinions, he will now turn his attention to whether people should be equally free to act on them provided it doesn’t include harming another person. Mill believes everyone can agree that people shouldn’t be as free to act as they are to think. Indeed, society should interfere in some way if one person’s actions harm another. However, it is desirable that people should be free to act in whatever way they want in matters that only concern themselves. When custom dictates what people can and cannot do, people cannot achieve true happiness and these restrictions hinder social progress. 

Mill asserts that the greatest obstacle this principle must overcome is the general indifference people have towards individuality. This would change if more people saw individuality as a key component of well-being. The majority is typically happy with society as it is because they made it so, which makes it hard for them to understand why others wouldn’t be happy with the status quo. In fact, the majority sees “spontaneity” as a negative because it threatens the established order of things. At the same time, nobody thinks that the best a person can do is copy what everyone else is doing instead of using their individual judgment in their personal affairs. In fact, Mill argues that it’s the “proper condition” of adults to interpret experience and knowledge in their own way because customs won’t help them navigate their unique personal experiences and personalities.

Mill also explains that adhering to custom just because it is custom does nothing to help people live up to their potential as human beings. People who let custom dictate their behavior gradually lose the ability to choose anything for themselves because they don’t use their own minds to make the best decision for their individual circumstances. Mill believes that a person’s mental faculties need exercise just as much as their body does, neither of which will get stronger if they’re neglected. In fact, adopting an opinion just because it’s what everyone else is doing will weaken a person’s mental faculties as they engage in “ape-like […] imitation.” Mill writes that it’s not just what people do that’s important, but what kind of people are doing things. Human nature shouldn’t be treated like a machine meant to do a certain thing, but a living thing that deserves to grow naturally.

Mill writes that most will agree that it is better for people to exercise their mental faculties to decide whether to adhere to or deviate from custom rather than blindly follow it. However, there is less support for the idea that people should have their own desires and impulses. Many fear that people with strong impulses will do bad things but ignore their potential for good if they are taught to cultivate self-control. After all, people who can balance their strong impulses with self-control are said to have a good character while those who blindly follow custom are accused on having none. To condemn a person for too much individuality is, according to Mill, the same as saying society is better of without people with strong character.

Mill writes that in early civilizations, it was difficult to get people with strong minds and an abundance of individuality to adhere to the legal and social rules of that community. To accomplish this, churches and governments tried to control every aspect of a person’s life. Now the problem is reversed: there is a lack of individuality and society has too much influence over individual lives. People no longer ask themselves what they’d prefer or what would be best; in fact, they don’t even imagine having desires apart from what the majority believes they should have. Under these conditions, humanity’s virtues die out. Mill asks the reader if this is “the desirable condition of human nature?” Mill points out that Calvinists—who believe in the complete suppression of individual will (considered sinful) in favor of total obedience to God’s—would think so.

Mill says that some people undoubtedly do believe that when people surrender their individuality, they are doing as God intended. However, Mill believes that if people were created by an omnipotent being, then that being would want them to make use of their individuality, not sacrifice it. Indeed, there is something to be said for self-assertion rather than constant self-sacrifice, and in cultivating individuality one becomes truly noble and life becomes richer. Furthermore, individuality enables people to become more useful to themselves and to society. The only suppression a society needs is that which prevents one person from hurting another, which also helps both individuals (because it teaches them to think of others) and society in general. Anything that crushes individuality, either in the name of God or in the interests of leaders, is despotism.

Mill writes that nobody can deny that originality is important to social progress. People with originality, after all, are the ones who develop new truths, begin new practices, and pave the way for change. Not everyone can do this, though—very few people have the kind of genius and originality needed to pioneer new social practices. Those that exist, however, not only create new practices, but breathe new life into old ones and help prevent them from degenerating into meaningless mechanical action. For a society to have originality, it must maintain the atmosphere for its growth. Although people with originality are scarce and less able to comfortably conform to public opinion, some of them do try, thus depriving society of their genius. Those who do break out and overcome society’s prejudice against nonconformity, leave a lasting mark.

Nobody disagrees with the necessity of originality outwardly, but inwardly most people think society could do without it. Mill explains this tendency by saying that “unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of [originality],” but that everyone should remember originality is meant to open their eyes, and all the good things in existence are the result of some past originality. Additionally, people must believe there is still room for improvement, as mediocrity is on the rise in society. Instead of thinking for themselves or taking the advice of leaders, people allow others just like themselves to think for them. This bleeds over into government, which has never risen beyond mediocrity except when the majority let themselves be guided by more gifted intellectuals. All truly noble things are initiated by gifted individuals, and average people are fortunately able to follow their lead.

Mill argues that when the popular opinion becomes dominant, there is a greater necessity for individuality to be more pronounced in those who are capable of originality. Although there have been times when it was better not to act too differently, in the current day more people should refuse to conform to popular opinion—eccentricity is a reproach to society, and it always exists in proportion to the amount of genius or originality within a society. The greatest danger of the modern day is that few people dare to embrace their eccentricity. Mill also argues that embracing individuality is not only useful for creating new practices for all of society, but average men and women can embrace theirs in order to determine the best way for them to live their unique lives, which will likely differ from one person to the next. 

Mill points out that nowhere except in monastic communities is diversity of preference entirely ignored. For instance, anyone in modern society can like or dislike smoking, music, or chess; however, anyone whose actions diverge from the norm is denigrated as if they committed a crime. Currently, opinion is formed by people who, lacking strong desires themselves, cannot understand them in others. Because of this, society looks down on anyone with strong desires as if they were “wild and intemperate.” Modern society is uniquely disposed to force universal standards on everyone, which includes limiting desires and suppressing anything that makes a person stand out from the crowd. Consequently, weak feelings and energies generally reign supreme. Furthermore, England’s greatness is collective rather than individual. Some people think this is good, but Mill argues that it was great individuals that made England great, and they will be needed to save it from decline.

The supremacy of custom currently stands in the way of progress by attacking the desire to achieve something better than prevailing customs. Liberty is the source of progress but is the antithesis of custom because it demands that one get out from under the power of public opinion. Mill argues that in the East (namely China), custom has essentially wiped out history and left entire cultures stationary. Progress can be achieved by any culture for a length of time, but it ends when individuality is forced out of it. While Europe itself embraces change and progress, it demands that everyone change at the same time. Still, Europe is at war with individuality, and the danger is that it will face a fate similar to China’s—for all of its great works and accomplishments, Europe (like China) might simply stop progressing because there will be no new ideas.

Mill addresses the question of what has saved Europe from falling into stagnation like China: it’s because Europe is immensely culturally and socially diverse. People from various cultures, nations, and classes have pioneered new paths and, though at times intolerant of each other, have generally benefitted by diversity. Still, Europe is gradually leaning towards making everyone alike as the boundaries that once divided society begin to crumble. People read and listen to the same things and increasingly direct their hopes toward similar objects as society begins raising the lower classes and lowering the upper ones. This tendency is driven forward by the supremacy of custom even in state matters as politicians refuse to contradict public opinion. The resulting hostility towards individuality can only be stopped if people feel its value. The time support individuality is now, before society reaches the point that it immediately condemns all deviations from custom.