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John Stuart Mill Freedom Of Speech Analysis

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In this essay, I will discuss John Stuart Mill’s argument concerning government in relation to utilitarianism, and why freedom of speech is important. Utilitarianism is a form of philosophy that relies on moral systematic theories, which include principles that offer discussion. Utilitarianism is considered to be a version of consequentialism, which is that the morality of an action is determined exclusively by appeal to its consequences. The foundation that forms the premise of utilitarianism is contingent on two parts. One being from an account of utility or what is intrinsically good. The second part is the actual principle of utility. The principle of utility is used to help make moral decisions. Mill’s account of utility is based on the overall happiness of the majority. Mill states that, “it is by no means an indispensable condition to the acceptance of the utilitarian standard; for that standard is not the agent’s own greatest happiness, but the greatest happiness of altogether” (Mill Chapter 2,7). Producing the greatest amount of happiness in the greatest number of people is Mill’s qualitative measurement on an account of …show more content…

However, I feel that Mill’s harm principle is not efficient of specific enough to follow. There is a difference between free speech and hate speech. There are people who direct their speech to purposely harm others. This sort of speech should not be tolerated or allowed. By allowing people to express their hate in the form of speech, it would decrease the overall happiness of the majority. I think that in such cases the harm principle fails to clarify in the different kinds of speech that should be allowed. The freedom of speech is clearly important in a society to express themselves, but there are limits. The role of government should then be to protect our right to free speech and to control hate speech, which is harmful to

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