For the past few days, I had been reading John Stuart Mill’s thought-provoking booOn Liberty. After reading it, I could tell why it had become one of the most influential books in human history.
While reading it, I couldn’t help but think about its implications on our Bengali society. A society that is highly collective in nature, where individuality is shunned, disrespected, and outright disowned if it doesn’t conform to the norm. Where mental health issues are reaching crisis levels among the youth -- who comprise a vast majority of our population -- simply because the individual is never allowed to thrive if they grow outside the norm.
In his book, Mill investigates, “The nature and limits of power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual.” He states that, in any society, there are two entities that exercise power over the individual: Governments and society. All societies have their own customs and traditions. These are usually accepted by most people living within that society as the only right way of thinking and being.
Individuals whose thinking and living styles don’t conform with these norms are ridiculed, humiliated, and socially pressured into falling in line or risking severe mental health issues. This is a powerful tool for control. Mill calls this form of social control the tyranny of the majority.
I have seen so many people with so much potential wither away with a deep sense of living an unfulfilled life, simply because they weren’t allowed by society to live their lives on their own terms. Mill states that societies can and do execute mandates and if they issue any mandate at all in things in which they ought not to meddle, they practise a form of social tyranny more formidable than any kind of political oppression.
Since not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself.
In his book, Mill argues against thwarting the individuality of the individuals who don’t conform with widely accepted social norms as long as it doesn’t directly harm others. He states, “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.”
Mill believes that liberty is one of key ingredients of well being and, as such, societies should try their best to ensure that individual liberty is not destroyed.
While Mill recognized that societies do have the right to exercise power over individuals who harm others, he urged that the freedom to hold beliefs, to express ideas, and to express one’s individualism in one’s own unique way should always, necessarily be left unrestrained.
He says, “If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.” He says the freedom to entertain a wide variety of ideas and express them without the fear of social repercussion is not only crucial to the healthy development of individuals, but also good for society as a whole.
According to Mill, there are two main reasons behind why unrestrained individuality is overall good for society. Firstly, Mill proposes that in suppressing an idea, society runs the risk of suppressing the truth. Humans and societies are fallible, and history stands witness that throughout time many societies falsely held onto their cherished traditions as universal truths, only to be proven wrong by one individual who dared to question the norm when individuality was allowed to thrive in that society.
If that individual’s opinion was thwarted, then society would have been overall worse off. The same way Europe was worse off during the medieval times than it was during its renaissance. The same way the Middle East was worse off after the end of its golden age than it was during its golden age.
Secondly, Mill argues that even if the beliefs a society holds is indeed what is the universal truth, individuals should still be allowed to doubt it, to question it, to investigate it. For when these beliefs become unquestionable, they stop being the truth and turn into dogma.
If it can’t be questioned and investigated, powerful individuals are bound to twist the meaning of these widely held beliefs to their own advantages over time. We have seen many examples of this throughout history. According to Mill, for truth to prevail, all beliefs, including truth itself, should be constantly questioned, debated, and falsified so as to prevent it from turning into dogma.
Mill further explains that throughout one’s life, each individual goes through what can be termed as “the experiment of life.” Through this, an individual tries to figure out what is the best and the truest expression of one’s unrestrained personality. For society’s own good, Mill argues, this experiment of life should never be meddled with for it is through this experiment the individual learns how to reach their full potential.
And when one is allowed to reach their full potential, that is indeed what leads to the maximum social benefit for the maximum number of people. That individual is likely to pay more in taxes, to give back more to society, and to inspire more people to do their best in their own unique way without fear of social repercussions.
Shams Ishtiaque Rahman is a freelance contributor.
