Mills and Rousseau on Contemporary Issues

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Several philosophers have provided individual theories on different forms of government as well as how societies prefer to live. Researching the observations different philosophers created is quite interesting. Recognizing that many of the views philosophers had has now shown to be true regarding contemporary issues. The contemporary issue this paper will examine will be the violent acts law enforcement displayed towards their citizens during the G20. This paper will also discuss how John Mills in On Liberty and Rousseau in Discourse would have viewed this issue as well as personal opinions to both Rousseau and Mills ideologies. Through this paper insight on these philosophers views as well as the violence during the G20 will be displayed.
Both Mills and Rousseau shaped different theories involving government as well as how societies behave. Although each ideology is different both display well argumentative explanations. Beginning with Mills in On Liberty’s introduction he speaks on how society can have power over individuals “Civil, or Social Liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual.” (Mills,1). When discussing democracy Mills makes aware of the negative attributes that may be present in a democracy. The majority of the people who have the same beliefs will gain more power over the minority group. This could also be viewed as the powerful over the less powerful. This may create a problem in a democracy because the majority group weakens the minority opinions. In order to create a just society there must not be any fear of the government. Mills theory will help create a more justifiable government. Taking a look at Mills harm theory he believes that the onl...

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... a society such as Canada’s people should be able to speak their mind as well as not fear those who are supposed to protect them. The power difference between individuals protesting and law enforcement was immense and showed the inequality in Canadian society. People should work together with both the government as well as law enforcement. After reading Mills and Rousseau’s work both could provide insight on what took place during the G20. If Mills were alive to see what took place in Toronto he could provide insight to help interpret the issue. As stated earlier Mills believed people should be able to peacefully speak their mind as long as it does not bring harm to another individual. In the case of the G20 Mills would have been saddened by how the law enforcement acted. By taking away the peoples voice they were not able to hear their concerns or their thoughts.

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