The Value Of Individuality In John Stuart Mill's On Liberty

In the On liberty, Mill also highlights the aspect of individuality as one of the elements of well-being. John Stuart Mill points out the inherent value of individuality, since individuality is by definition the thriving of the human person through the higher pleasures. He argues that a safe society ought to attempt to promote individuality as it is the pre- requisite for creativity and diversity. Therefore Mill concludes that actions themselves don’t matter, rather the person behind the action and the action together are valuable. However on the limits to the authority of society over the individual, generally he holds that a person should be left as free to pursue his own interests as long as this does not harm the interests of others. In

According to Ogunkoya (2011; 520), in the On Liberty Mill is concerned about the effect of democratization as a better government compared to the autocratic governments of the time of antiquity. He makes a brief survey of the changing roles of liberty as a political ideal or concept, and how it has been subjected to varied degrees of denial and persecution. But the coming of democracy has made the power of the rulers distinguishable from those of the people, and so, there arose the need to find a limit to the power of the ruler in order to prevent unnecessary infringement of the rulers on the liberty of the people. It has now been realized that the so-called majority rule is the rule of the people amongst themselves, and as such, it poses another problem that is, “the tyranny of the majority” according to

Mill does not deny the possibility that there is a creator, but instead appeals to the reason of the reader to come to a conclusion based on evidence. If people in the world today and in the next century would adopt this practice, many ills would be remedied. According to Bodman and Tohid many laws in Islamic nations are based totally on the Koran, which is thought to be the word of God. Obviously, if skepticism toward religion was employed by Islamic people, some of the inequity in laws concerning women would be eliminated. In 1990, female Afghani refugees in Pakistan were subjected to the strict Islamic laws of that nation, which included purdah, or veiling. Women who were under these restrictions were not allowed to collect food rations in public, and if they had no male relative to do it for them, they simply went hungry. Also, if a woman had been raped during the war she was in danger of "honor killing" as the rape of the woman was considered dishonorable to her family. This kind of inhuman attitude toward women clearly shows the need for the adoption of philosophies toward women and religion like those of John Stuart