Mill's Freedom Of Speech And Its Criticism

John Stuart Mill is a link between the past and future in the history of liberalism.His book On Liberty is regarded as a classic of liberalism.The discussion on freedom of speech in this book is remarkable and of great research value.Based on Mill's On Liberty,this dissertation attempts to make a systematic study of Mill's freedom of speech.Firstly,this dissertation discusses the factors that influence the formation of Mill's liberal thoughts:personal experience,social environment,and predecessors'thoughts.Then,this dissertation clarifies the basic concept of freedom of speech,and analyzes the connotation and nature of freedom of speech under Mill's ideology,and also studies how Mill demonstrates the value of freedom of speech from the perspectives of pursuing truth,inspiring personality and enhancing social welfare,and delimits the boundaries of freedom of speech with the principles of "fair discussion"and "harm principle".On this basis,this dissertation analyzes and also criticizes the defense logic of Mill's freedom of speech.Finally,this dissertation shows three dimensions behind the value of freedom of speech:individual rights,social well-being and political interests,pointing out that different countries have different priority rankings.It also proposes a new interpretation based on sociological perspective.