All Minus One: John Stuart Mill's Ideas on Free Speech Illustrated

27 Pages·2021·54.86 MB·English

by  Jonathan Haidt (Author), Dave Cicirelli (Author, Illustrator), Richard Reeves (Author, Editor)

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INTRODUCTION Mill was writing in Victorian England, Mill’s basic lesson was the timeless truth
but his fears are perhaps even more press- that we need each other—even our op-
ing today as we all struggle to adapt to a ponents—more than we realize. We all
new technology and a new social order. tend to be arrogant and overconfident
Social media can now bring shame, angry that “our side” is right. We all suffer from
drawn together by chance encounters in
The value of free speech is being chal-
mobs, and reputational destruction rain- the “confirmation bias”—the tendency to
which we discovered a shared belief that
lenged in many societies. The conflict is
ing down on people within hours mere- search only for evidence that will confirm
Mill deserves a wider audience, especially
fiercest on university campuses. Both sides
ly for expressing their honest opinions. our existing beliefs and prejudices. This is
among people embarking on a college ed-
point to rights that must be protected;
Young people are particularly vulnerable why diversity is so important, particularly
ucation. Since Mill’s writing is unusually
both sides point to harms that will be suf-
to such pressures, given their heavy use of diversity of viewpoints: The only reliable
rich in metaphors and images, we wanted
fered if the other side gets its way. Neither
social media, and this is part of the rea- cure for the confirmation bias is interact-
to convey some of his ideas visually, too.
side seems able to convince the other with
son why college campuses have become ing with other people who have a different
logic, shame, or violence. It is time to step
More about Mill: John Stuart Mill (1806- ground zero in the speech wars. confirmation bias, and who do you the fa-
back and look at the big picture. Why is
1873) is one of the most important think- In the English speaking countries, uni- vor of finding flaws in your reasoning and
free speech important in a modern liberal
ers in the liberal tradition. He was also versities are supposed to be special places counter-evidence you had not considered.
democracy?
an activist. He campaigned for women’s where dissent is prized and new and even
Mill believed that the pursuit of truth
rights, and was the first MP to introduce a radical ideas can be tested. As judge Alex
required the collation and combination
The liberal democratic case for free speech
bill for women’s suffrage into parliament. Kozinski wrote in 2010 in a major case
of ideas and propositions, even those
was set out in 1859 by John Stuart Mill,
He was a fiercely committed anti-racist, regarding the First Amendment to the
that seem to be in opposition to each
the English philosopher, politician, and
strongly supporting the abolitionist move- US Constitution:
other. He urged us to allow others to
activist, in his famous essay On Liberty.
ment in the U.S., and the North in the
speak—and then to listen to them—for
That was more than a century and half ago
Civil War. Mill also led a successful cam- The right to provoke, offend, and shock
three main reasons.
but his arguments have enduring value,
paign for the right to protest and speak in lies at the core of the First Amendment.
especially for students and teachers (who,
London’s public parks. In Hyde Park, the This is particularly so on college campus-
First, the other person’s idea, however
if they are any good, are students too).
famous Speaker’s Corner stands today as a es. Intellectual advancement has tradi-
controversial it seems today, might turn
That is why we have decided to publish an
tribute to his victory. tionally progressed through discord and
out to be right. (“The opinion may
edited extract of On Liberty. The text you
dissent, as a diversity of views ensures
possibly be true.”)
are about to read is a little more than half
Mill’s main concern was not government that ideas survive because they are cor-
of chapter 2 of Mill’s book, or about a fifth
censorship. It was the stultifying conse- rect, not because they are popular.
Second, even if our opinion is largely
of the entire work. Our goal was to make
quences of social conformity, of a cul-
correct, we hold it more rationally and se-
it easy and enjoyable for a new generation
ture where deviation from a prescribed Judge Kozinski was essentially channeling
curely as a result of being challenged.
to discover Mill’s best ideas on free speech
set of opinions is punished through peer Mill, as you’ll see. But what would Mill
(“He who knows only his own side of the
with less than an hour of reading.
pressure and the fear of ostracism. “Pro- think of today’s college campuses? What
case, knows little of that.”)
tection, therefore, against the tyranny of would he think about the growing number
About us: We are an odd bunch, to be hon-
the magistrate is not enough,” he wrote. of students and professors who say that
Third, and in Mill’s view most likely, op-
est: a Mill scholar who studies inequality
“There needs protection also against the they are afraid to speak up, not because
posing views may each contain a portion
at the Brookings Institution (Reeves), a
tyranny of the prevailing opinion and they fear the government but because they
of the truth, which need to be combined.
social psychologist who studies morality
feeling.” Mill saw people even as brilliant fear each other?
(“Conflicting doctrines share the truth be-
at New York University’s Stern School of
as Charles Darwin living in fear of the re-
tween them.”)
Business (Haidt), and an illustrator who
sponse their views would provoke.
loves provocative ideas (Cicirelli). We were
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among professors. Communities that are
For free speech to be valuable to the
morally or politically homogeneous tend
pursuit of truth, we all need to be both
to create orthodoxies that stifl e dissenting
humble and open. We need humility to
or “heterodox” views.
recognize that we might not be right about
everything all of the time, and that we
In September 2015 a dozen professors got
have something to learn from others. We
ALL
together and bought the domain name
also need to be open to the possibility of
HeterodoxAcademy.org. At fi rst, the site
altering our views, opinions, and even
was just a blog by professors for professors,
values based on our engagement with the
but over time it grew into a fully fl edged
world. Our identity as a person must be
organization over 5,000 and community
kept separable from the ideas we happen
of professors, graduate students, and ad-
to endorse at a given time. Otherwise,
ministrators. Heterodox Academy (HxA)
when those ideas are criticized, we are
minus one
is one of the few organizations in higher
likely to experience a conversation, book,
education that is roughly evenly balanced
or lecture as an
between progressives and conservatives.
attack upon our self, rather than as an JOHN STUART MILL’S IDEAS ON
More importantly, we are all united in
opportunity to think about something
FREE SPEECH ILLUSTRATED,
support of HxA’s mission: To improve
more deeply and to grow intellectually.
.
the quality of research and education in SECOND EDITION
Humility, openness, engagement, a strong
universities by increasing open inquiry,
and maturing self that is always a work in
viewpoint diversity, and constructive Edited by Richard V. Reeves
progress; these are the necessary ingre- disagreement. and Jonathan Haidt
dients for a free society, and for shared
Art & Design by Dave Cicirelli
progress, according to Mill (who changed
In support of that mission, HxA has pro-
his mind about many things during the
duced this book, and has made PDF cop-
course of his life).
ies of it available to the world for free at
HeterodoxAcademy.org/mill. You will also
About Heterodox Academy: If Mill is
fi nd resources for teachers linked from
right that dissent, critique, and challenge
that page.
are essential for sharpening arguments
and improving ideas, then university —————————
communities must include a diversity of
Th at’s enough from us. Time for the main
viewpoints. Diversity by gender and race
event. Mill opens his argument for free
has long been recognized as adding to the
speech by imagining a world in which just
quality of thinking; diversity by politics
one person holds a view contrary to that
and ideology has not been discussed as
held by the rest of humanity. What harm
much. But as the United States has ex-
could be done by silencing this
perienced rising political polarization
since the late 1990s, it has witnessed a lone eccentric?
corresponding drop in political diversity
All Minus One was produced by Heterodox Academy.
Th is work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
3 ©2021. All rights reserved. 4
MILL’S FIRST ARGUMENT:
“THE OPINION MAY POSSIBLY BE TRUE”
ing generation; those who dissent from the
If all mankind minus one, were of one opin-
opinion, still more than those who hold it. If
ion, and only one person were of the con-
the opinion is right, they are deprived of the
trary opinion, mankind would be no more
opportunity of exchanging error for truth:
justified in silencing that one person,
if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great
than he, if he had the pow-
a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier
er, would be justified in
impression of truth, produced by its collision
silencing mankind...
with error.
The peculiar evil
We can never be sure that the opinion we are
of silencing the
endeavouring to stifle is a false opinion; and if
expression of
we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.
an opinion is,
that it is rob-
First: the opinion which it is attempted to
bing the human
suppress by authority may possibly be true.
race; posterity as
Those who desire to suppress it, of course
well as the exist-
deny its truth; but they are not infallible.
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They have no authority to decide the ques- a man’s want of confidence in his own soli- the present. and on no other terms can a being with hu-
tion for all mankind, and exclude every tary judgment, does he usually repose, with man faculties have any rational assurance
other person from the means of judging. implicit trust, on the infallibility of “the The objection likely to be made to this ar- of being right.
To refuse a hearing to an opinion, because world” in general. And the world, to each gument, would probably take some such
When we consider either the history of
they are sure that it is false, is to assume individual, means the part of it with which form as the following[:] There is no great-
opinion, or the ordinary conduct of human
that their certainty is the same thing as ab- he comes in contact; his party, his sect, his er assumption of infallibility in forbidding
life, to what is it to be ascribed that the one
solute certainty. All silencing of discussion church, his class of society: the man may be the propagation of error, than in any other
and the other are no worse than they are?
is an assumption of infallibility. Its con- called, by comparison, almost liberal and thing which is done by public authority on
Not certainly to the inherent force of the
demnation may be allowed to rest on this large-minded to whom it means anything its own judgment and responsibility. Judg-
human understanding; for, on any mat-
common argument, not the worse for be- so comprehensive as his own country or ment is given to men that they may use it.
ter not self-evident, there are ninety-nine
ing common. his own age. Because it may be used erroneously, are
persons totally incapable of judging of it,
men to be told that they ought not to use
for one who is capable; and the capacity
Unfortunately for the good sense of man- Nor is his faith in this collective authority
it at all? To prohibit what they think perni-
of the hundredth person is only compar-
kind, the fact of their fallibility is far from at all shaken by his being aware that oth-
cious, is not claiming exemption from error,
ative: for the majority of the eminent men
carrying the weight in their practical judg- er ages, countries, sects, churches, classes,
but fulfilling the duty incumbent on them,
of every past generation held many opin-
ment, which is always allowed to it in theo- and parties have thought, and even now
although fallible, of acting on their consci-
ions now known to be erroneous, and did
ry; for while every one well knows himself think, the exact reverse. He devolves upon
entious conviction... There is no such thing
or approved numerous things which no
to be fallible, few think it necessary to take his own world the responsibility of being in
as absolute certainty, but there is assurance
one will now justify. Why is it, then, that
any precautions against their own fallibili- the right against the dissentient [differing,
sufficient for the purposes of human life. We
there is on the whole a preponderance
ty, or admit the supposition that any opin- dissenting] worlds of other people; and it
may, and must, assume our opinion to be
among mankind of rational opinions and
ion, of which they feel very certain, may be never troubles him that mere accident has
true for the guidance of our own conduct:
rational conduct? If there really is this pre-
one of the examples of the error to which decided which of these numerous worlds is
and it is assuming no more when we forbid
ponderance—which there must be unless
they acknowledge themselves to be liable. the object of his reliance, and that the same
bad men to pervert society by the propaga-
human affairs are, and have always been,
causes which make him a Churchman in
tion of opinions which we regard as false
Absolute princes, or others who are ac-
in an almost desperate state—it is owing
London, would have made him a Buddhist
and pernicious.
customed to unlimited deference, usual-
to a quality of the human mind, the source
or a Confucian in Pekin [Beijing]. Yet it is
ly feel this complete confidence in their
I answer, that it is assuming very much
of everything respectable in man either as
as evident in itself, as any amount of argu-
own opinions on nearly all subjects. Peo-
more. There is the greatest difference be-
an intellectual or as a moral being, namely,
ment can make it, that ages are no more in-
ple more happily situated, who sometimes
tween presuming an opinion to be true,
that his errors are corrigible. He is capable
fallible than individuals; every age having
hear their opinions disputed, and are not
because, with every opportunity for con-
of rectifying his mistakes, by discussion
held many opinions which subsequent ages
wholly unused to be set right when they are
testing it, it has not been refuted, and as-
and experience. Not by experience alone.
have deemed not only false but absurd; and
wrong, place the same unbounded reliance
suming its truth for the purpose of not per-
There must be discussion, to show how ex-
it is as certain that many opinions, now
only on such of their opinions as are shared
mitting its refutation. Complete liberty of
perience is to be interpreted.
general, will be rejected by future ages, as it
by all who surround them, or to whom
contradicting and disproving our opinion,
is that many, once general, are rejected by

they habitually defer: for in proportion to
is the very condition which justifies us in
Wrong opinions and practices gradually
assuming its truth for purposes of action;
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yield to fact and argument: but facts and to well-being, that it is as much the duty
The steady habit of correcting and com- Strange it is, that men should admit the va-
arguments, to produce any effect on the of governments to uphold those beliefs, as
pleting his own opinion by collating it lidity of the arguments for free discussion,
mind, must be brought before it. Very few to protect any other of the interests of so-
with those of others, so far from causing but object to their being “pushed to an ex-
facts are able to tell their own story, without ciety. In a case of such necessity, and so di-
doubt and hesitation in carrying it into treme;” not seeing that unless the reasons
comments to bring out their meaning. The rectly in the line of their duty, something
practice, is the only stable foundation are good for an extreme case, they are not
whole strength and value, then, of human less than infallibility may, it is maintained,
for a just reliance on it: for, being cogni- good for any case. Strange that they should
judgment, depending on the one proper- warrant, and even bind, governments, to
sant of all that can, at least obviously, be imagine that they are not assuming infal-
ty, that it can be set right when it is wrong, act on their own opinion, confirmed by the
said against him, and having taken up his libility, when they acknowledge that there
reliance can be placed on it only when the general opinion of mankind. It is also often
position against all gainsayers—know- should be free discussion on all subjects
means of setting it right are kept constantly argued, and still oftener thought, that none
ing that he has sought for objections and which can possibly be doubtful, but think
at hand. In the case of any person whose but bad men would desire to weaken these
difficulties, instead of avoiding them, that some particular principle or doctrine
judgment is really deserving of confidence, salutary beliefs; and there can be nothing
and has shut out no light which can be should be forbidden to be questioned be-
how has it become so? Because he has kept wrong, it is thought, in restraining bad
thrown upon the subject from any quar- cause it is certain, that is, because they are
his mind open to criticism of his opinions men, and prohibiting what only such men
ter—he has a right to think his judgment certain that it is certain. To call any prop-
and conduct. Because it has been his prac- would wish to practise.
better than that of any person, or any mul- osition certain, while there is any one who
tice to listen to all that could be said against
titude, who have not gone through a simi- would deny its certainty if permitted, but
This mode of thinking makes the justifica-
him; to profit by as much of it as was just,
lar process. who is not permitted, is to assume that we
tion of restraints on discussion not a ques-
and expound to himself, and upon occa-
ourselves, and those who agree with us, are
tion of the truth of doctrines, but of their
It is not too much to require that what the
sion to others, the fallacy of what was falla-
the judges of certainty, and judges without
usefulness; and flatters itself by that means
wisest of mankind, those who are best enti-
cious. Because he has felt, that the only way
hearing the other side.
to escape the responsibility of claiming to
tled to trust their own judgment, find nec-
in which a human being can make some
be an infallible judge of opinions. But those
essary to warrant their relying on it, should
approach to knowing the whole of a sub- In the present age—which has been de-
who thus satisfy themselves, do not per-
be submitted to by that miscellaneous col-
ject, is by hearing what can be said about scribed as “destitute of faith, but terrified
ceive that the assumption of infallibility is
lection of a few wise and many foolish in-
it by persons of every variety of opinion, at scepticism”—in which people feel sure,
merely shifted from one point to another.
dividuals, called the public… The Roman
and studying all modes in which it can be not so much that their opinions are true, as
The usefulness of an opinion is itself mat-
Catholic Church, even at the canonization
looked at by every character of mind. No that they should not know what to do with-
ter of opinion: as disputable, as open to dis-
of a saint, admits, and listens patiently to, a
wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any out them—the claims of an opinion to be
cussion, and requiring discussion as much,
“devil’s advocate.” The holiest of men, it ap-
mode but this; nor is it in the nature of protected from public attack are rested not
as the opinion itself...
pears, cannot be admitted to posthumous
human intellect to become wise in any oth- so much on its truth, as on its importance
honours, until all that the devil could say
er manner. to society. There are, it is alleged, certain
against him is known and weighed...
beliefs, so useful, not to say indispensable
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[T]he dictum that truth always triumphs It is a piece of idle sentimentality that truth,
over persecution, is one of those pleasant merely as truth, has any inherent power
falsehoods which men repeat after one denied to error, of prevailing against the
another till they pass into commonplaces, dungeon and the stake. Men are not more
zealous for truth than they often are for er-
but which all experience refutes.
ror, and a sufficient application of legal or
History teems with instances
even of social penalties will generally suc-
of truth put down by ceed in stopping the propagation of either.
persecution. If not suppressed The real advantage which truth has, con-
sists in this, that when an opinion is true, it
for ever, it may be thrown back
may be extinguished once, twice, or many
for centuries.
times, but in the course of ages there will
generally be found persons to rediscover it,
To speak only of religious opinions: the
until some one of its reappearances falls on
Reformation broke out at least twenty times
a time when from favourable circumstanc-
before Luther, and was put down… Protes-
es it escapes persecution until it such head
tantism was rooted out; and, most likely,
as to withstand all subsequent attempts to
would have been so in England, had Queen
suppress it...
Mary lived, or Queen Elizabeth died. Per-
secution has always succeeded, save where [O]pinion, on this subject, is as efficacious
the heretics were too strong a party to be as law; men might as well be imprisoned,
effectually persecuted. No reasonable per- as excluded from the means of earning
son can doubt that Christianity might have their bread. Those whose bread is already
been extirpated in the Roman Empire. It secured, and who desire no favours from
spread, and became predominant, because men in power, or from bodies of men, or
the persecutions were only occasional, from the public, have nothing to fear from
lasting but a short time, and separated the open avowal of any opinions, but to be
by long intervals of almost undisturbed ill-thought of and ill-spoken of, and this it
propagandism. ought not to require a very heroic mould to
enable them to bear. There is no room for
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any appeal ad misericordiam [on grounds of moral courage of the human mind. ing their thoughts and interest to things
With us, heretical opinions do not per-
pity] in behalf of such persons. But though which can be spoken of without venturing
ceptibly gain, or even lose, ground in each
A state of things in which a large portion
we do not now inflict so much evil on those within the region of principles, that is, to
decade or generation; they never blaze out
of the most active and inquiring intellects
who think differently from us, as it was for- small practical matters, which would come
far and wide, but continue to smoulder in
find it advisable to keep the genuine princi-
merly our custom to do, it may be that we do right of themselves, if but the minds of
the narrow circles of thinking and studious
ples and grounds of their convictions with-
ourselves as much evil as ever by our treat- mankind were strengthened and enlarged,
persons among whom they originate, with-
in their own breasts, and attempt, in what
ment of them. Socrates was put to death, but and which will never be made effectually
out ever lighting up the general affairs of
they address to the public, to fit as much as
the Socratic philosophy rose like the sun right until then: while that which would
mankind with either a true or a deceptive
they can of their own conclusions to prem-
in heaven, and spread its illumination over strengthen and enlarge men’s minds, free
light. And thus is kept up a state of things
ises which they have internally renounced,
the whole intellectual firmament. Chris- and daring speculation on the highest sub-
very satisfactory to some minds, because,
cannot send forth the open, fearless char-
tians were cast to the lions, but the Chris- jects, is abandoned.
without the unpleasant process of fining or
acters, and logical, consistent intellects
tian church grew up a stately and spreading
imprisoning anybody, it maintains all pre-
Those in whose eyes this reticence on the
who once adorned the thinking world. The
tree, overtopping the older and less vigorous
vailing opinions outwardly undisturbed,
part of heretics is no evil, should consider
growths, and stifling them by its shade. sort of men who can be looked for under
while it does not absolutely interdict the
in the first place, that in consequence of it
it, are either mere conformers to common-
exercise of reason by dissentients afflicted
Our merely social intolerance there is never any fair and thorough dis-
place, or time-servers for truth, whose ar-
with the malady of thought. A convenient
cussion of heretical opinions; and that such
kills no one, roots out no opin- guments on all great subjects are meant
plan for having peace in the intellectu-
of them as could not stand such a discus-
for their hearers, and are not those which
ions, but induces men to disguise
al world, and keeping all things going on
sion, though they may be prevented from
have convinced themselves. Those who
them, or to abstain from any ac- therein very much as they do already. But
spreading, do not disappear.
avoid this alternative, do so by narrow-
the price paid for this sort of intellectual
tive effort for their diffusion.
pacification, is the sacrifice of the entire
13 14
by the errors of one who, with due study
But it is not the minds of here-
and preparation, thinks for himself, than
tics that are deteriorated most,
by the true opinions of those who only hold
by the ban placed on all inqui- them because they do not suffer themselves
ry which does not end in the to think.
orthodox conclusions. The great-
Not that it is solely, or chiefly, to form great
est harm done is to those who are thinkers, that freedom of thinking is re-
not heretics, and whose whole quired. On the contrary, it is as much and
even more indispensable, to enable average
mental development is cramped,
human beings to attain the mental stature
and their reason cowed, by the
which they are capable of. There have been,
fear of heresy.
and may again be, great individual think-
ers, in a general atmosphere of mental slav-
Who can compute what the world loses in
ery. But there never has been, nor ever will
the multitude of promising intellects com-
be, in that atmosphere, an intellectually
bined with timid characters, who dare not
active people. When any people has made
follow out any bold, vigorous, independent
a temporary approach to such a character,
train of thought, lest it should land them
it has been because the dread of hetero-
in something which would admit of being
dox speculation was for a time suspend-
considered irreligious or immoral? Among
ed. Where there is a tacit convention that
them we may occasionally see some man
principles are not to be disputed; where the
of deep conscientiousness, and subtle and
discussion of the greatest questions which
refined understanding, who spends a life
can occupy humanity is considered to be
in sophisticating with an intellect which he
closed, we cannot hope to find that gener-
cannot silence, and exhausts the resourc-
ally high scale of mental activity which has
es of ingenuity in attempting to reconcile
made some periods of history so remark-
the promptings of his conscience and rea-
able. Never when controversy avoided the
son with orthodoxy, which yet he does not,
subjects which are large and important
perhaps, to the end succeed in doing. No
enough to kindle enthusiasm, was the mind
one can be a great thinker who does not
of a people stirred up from its founda-
recognise, that as a thinker it is his first
tions, and the impulse given which raised
duty to follow his intellect to whatever con-
even persons of the most ordinary intellect
clusions it may lead. Truth gains more even
15 16