A Discourse On John Mill's Thought Of Liberty

Perhaps there is no other word that is as stirring as "freedom",and freedom is undoubtedly one of the most important proposition in the discourse system of mainstream philosophers in modern times;and in the mainstream of the modern world,Liberalism is unquestionably dominant.In the history of philosophy,John Mill was the first philosopher who made a key contribution to the advancement of freedom research,he is thus known as the Saint of liberalism.Mill's systematic thinking on freedom is embodied in his famous book On liberty,so this thesis will take it as the core text to analyze Mill's thought of liberty.It is worth pointing out that in the beginning of On liberty Mill shows that he is talking about the freedom of citizens,not the freedom of will,which can be realized through hard work in real society.On the basis of the previous research results,Mill transferred the metaphysical research of freedom to the study of how freedom is realized in the specific social context.The thesis is divided into four parts to discuss and analyze Mill's liberty thought.The first part is to study the significance of Mill's freedom thought,the present research situation at home and abroad,the research methods and innovation of this thesis.The second part mainly introduces the origin and continuity of Mill's freedom thought.The third part is mainly about the text interpretation of On liberty.The fourth part is to analyze Mill's freedom thought combined with Berlin's Liberty.In the book of Liberty,Berlin expresses doubts or even negates some of Mill's thoughts.This thesis hopes to sort out the similarities and differences between the two men,clarify their respective argumentation logic,and further think about liberty on this basis.There are three core questions to be discussed in this thesis:first,how to divide the boundaries between individual and society?How is the boundaries of private life and public authority areas of Berlin said the division,the author believes that Mill hasn't set off the boundaries between them.Second,Mill and Berlin have not discussed free will,is the question of free will not important?Berlin gave his answer:"I still realize that there is a lot to do,especially the question of free will." Since Berlin is sure that free will is important,why doesn't he discuss it?Third,the importance of choice.As Mill puts it,we don't have any accepted criteria,we just rely on the "choice" of the individual.We live in the world and face choices and decisions at any time.But we can't predict what it will turn out to be.We can only act according to our own vision and at the risk of making mistakes.So sometimes we need to be more tolerant.In the foreseeable future,there are more ways to achieve the goal,and more space for a few people to achieve their goals.We need tolerance to allow more "freedom and variety of situations" to bring about a better life for individuals and nations.Based on the above three questions,This paper will re-understand Mill's liberty thought on the basis of predecessors,and excavate the profound connotation of Mill's liberty thought.