Rousseau Versus Mill - 1844 Words

The term civil or social liberties is one that garners a lot of attention and focus from both Rousseau and Mill, although they tackle the subject from slightly different angles. Rousseau believes that the fundamental problem facing people s capacity to leave the state of nature and enter a society in which their liberty is protected is the ability to find a form of association that defends and protects the person and goods of each associate with all the common force, and by means of which each one, uniting with all, nevertheless obeys only himself and remains as free as before (Rousseau 53). Man is forced to leave the state of nature because their resistance to the obstacles faced is beginning to fail (Rousseau 52). Mill does not†¦show more content†¦Mill might be tempted to argue that there are aspects of the general will that citizens should be fearful of. One of the forces that Mill identifies as the most stifling towards liberty is the force of the popular opinion. Clear ly, some sort of protection against tyranny of the magistrate is necessary but not enough as there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices (Mill 9). Mill is noticeably placing more emphasis on the individual aspects of freedom as opposed to Rousseau who is more in support of a freedom that only can only be attained through the forfeiting of some these individual liberties in order to become a part of the collective and achieve his version of civil freedom, the most important of all liberties. Diversity of opinions is a highly valued societal good for Mill and he believes this to be an important path to revealing the truths and securing liberty. In ensuring people will enjoy the liberty they deserve, Mill leaves a lot more room for government intervention than Rousseau does in his version of the best society. This can be mainly attributed to the fact that Rousseau seems to have more faith in people and sees them as inherently good as their only source of evil was the corrupting forces of theShow MoreRelatedThe Value Of Liberty ; Rousseau Vs. Mill1536 Words   |  7 PagesThe Value of Liberty; Rousseau v. Mill The views and conceptions of what liberty is have continued to change over time as society changes. Freedom is defined as the right to do â€Å"act, think, and speak as one wants† without anyone or anything infringing on that right, but there exists types of freedoms or liberties. 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