Mill's defence of freedom of expression
Topic: Political Theory: Freedom and Rights · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Freedom"
Meaning
In On Liberty (1859), J.S. Mill gave four reasons to allow even ideas that seem "false":
- No idea is completely false; most have some truth in them.
- Truth comes out when different views clash.
- That clash keeps truth alive, so it does not become an empty cliché.
- What looks false today may later turn out to be true.
This is the classic argument for tolerating views we dislike.
Example
NCERT links this to the line "I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to death your right to say it". The line is Evelyn Beatrice Hall's 1906 summary of Voltaire's view. Mill's logic matches S. Rangarajan (1989). There the Supreme Court refused to let threats of protest stop a film.
Don't confuse with
- Harm principle: this is Mill's separate rule that power may be used against a person only to stop harm to others. The four reasons defend free speech itself. The harm principle sets the outer limit on any freedom.