Critical Analysis: Js Mills Defense Of Free Speech

Critical Analysis: Js Mills Defense Of Free Speech Reading J.S. Mills Defense of free Speech was a great deal of interest, education and increment of knowledge to me. I was so thrilled by his choice of words and his mechanism of analyses. It is of a great pleasure and of a great honor to me to have this opportunity to analyze and asses critically this very write up. According to J.S. Mill we see that freedom means: a) the freedom of thought, religion, speech, b) the freedom of tastes, and the freedom to plan the life in own way, and c) the freedom of assembly. Thus, Mills ideal is a possible freedom of every person for the purpose of the whole society prosperity. Mill even stated that the state should take care of own people and dont try to increase the value of own citizens with the purpose of making them obedient instruments of own projects implementation. Mill defends the right of individuals to live as he pleases. According to Mill we see that each of us is self-sufficient with respect to own health, as bodily, mental and spiritual. Social growth is the result of all the various individual initiatives. Clearly, everyones freedom finds its limits in the freedom of another. Individual shall not infringe upon the interests of others or a certain group interests, which by law or acquiescence should read as legal. He was forced to accept their re sponsibilities and the necessary sacrifices for the protection of society and its members from any sabotage and unrest. Freedom in Mills mind is the public good. Because a free person is more productive than not free person and has a better chance of happiness, advocated by the time Mill in his work. Now we have a reason to suspect that the freedom is the condition for further evolution of the individual and, more importantly, the collectivity development, i.e. culture-and sociogenesis. Survival of the human species depends on how human can think, and on his ability to modify the form of collective existence. It is possible to say without exaggeration that Mill first felt in what direction the further process of universal evolution goes or even where it should be directed for the purpose of its future continuation. It cannot be overemphasized the importance and necessity of freedom in life. It is our right to exercise our freedom. The freedom of speech in consideration here most especially is definitely needful, useful and should be unutilized or underutilized by individuals in recent times. This is one of the bases of civilization. Thinking about the liberty of thought and discussion on the governmental level we see that Mill was worried by the state censorship of individuals behavior more as a danger rather than the topic of the day. In old Europe the state interference in individuals life and the freedom of expression has not been true until Mills times. It had a place not because of big governments sympathy to personal freedom, but because of the so-called technical problems; it means that the government was still focused on other prerogatives. No one was aware of how widely it may be areas of potential individual freedom, because life was a meager content, and finally the prerogative of th e regulation of morals then belonged to the church and community in those times. First of all, I would like to have a short look at the prehistory of the book On Liberty, because it will help me to be more professional in further analysis of Mills thoughts. The book On Liberty Mill co-wrote with his wife in 1859. The author has predicted a long life to this his work by himself and thought that exactly On Liberty will survive the rest of his creations. Mill does not get tired to stress the importance for man and society as a whole in maximum diversity of characters and full freedom of human nature in a myriad of contrasting directions. Freedom does not only protect from the tyranny of power, it insures also against such kind of tyranny as the tyranny of prevailing opinion and feeling of general social trends, ideas and habits It seems to me that the freedom limits the penetration of legitimate collective wisdom of individual independence. On my opinion, treatise On Liberty is one of the fundamental works of liberal thought, as it provides the rationale unit of society, where the freedom of speech, the freedom of thought, the freedom of private life (including economic freedom) and the freedom of social and political associations were discussed. According to Mill the above numerated freedoms would become a reality in democratic governance. However, in a representative board (it is assumed in a democracy) are possible the tyranny of fashion and the tyranny of the majority. Mill considered that in a society the law and public opinion should compel people to perform certain behavioral rules. In this case the most important question is about the true essence of these rules. In every era and in every country the dominate rules and laws are perceived as unquestionable and self-evident by people. Meanwhile, this almost universal illusion is one example of the magic influence of habit. In all societies, wrote Mill, there are several principles that play an important role in the formation of behavioral rules that are imposed by the law or public opinion in the first and the foremost rate it is the interest of the ruling class. The majority of public morality is conditioned to the interests of the ruling class where one class dominates the other. The second principle, which plays an important role in the formation of the behavioral rules, lies in cringing and in desire to please masters or gods. In addition, the moral concepts were also affected by the public interest. The fact that there are in accordance to our views the presence of good government and bad government might not be one without error. This was critically emphasized in Mills write up. Mill (1859) stated that The best government has no more title to it than the worst. It is as noxious, or more noxious, when exerted in accordance with public opinion, than when in opposition to it. If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were. The opinions we bear always make us who we are. When we see the government as a bad one, it makes us a people who are led by a bad government. An opinion held by a majority or by people in power or even any individual could be erroneous. The same very opinion held by a group of people as truth and correct might be total held by the other group as completely false statement and completely incorrect. The presence of change cannot be overemphasized and does not change as different generation passes by. It is a true saying that as new generation comes, there comes a new way of life, way of thinking and many other improvements or non-improvements in processes. There have been many reformations and changes in the system of governance of any country of the world from the year 1678 to 2010. What does this point to? This means that for a rational critic to rationally criticize any government there should be detailed consideration of the time, setting and location of the criticized government. Nevertheless I still want to stipulate that there still holds some general view on the basic things expected of a government to offer its citizens and this is the freedom of speech. According to Van Belle (2000) we see that For the most part, efforts to defend press freedom have been equal to the task. In fact, if the gradual growth of press freedom around the world is any indicator, the defense an d pursuit of press freedom might even be considered to be slightly more robust overall than the effort to censor. If you mark the beginning of the fight for press freedom with the arguments for unlicensed printing put forth in John Miltons Areopagitica, scholars, philosophers, and politicians have been fighting for the freedom to publish free of government control for three and a half centuries. To make our points approved is an enviable feature and character worthy of emulation which establishes our opinion as a statement of truth. I will not but also comment on this point as it evokes the feeling and awareness to each of us and most especially the government to allow great room for criticism and evaluation of the views and beliefs held. Mill holds the view that our views and opinions despite the fact that they are value statements should have enough safe grounds of defense to it. We should always weigh our statements, opinions and views in order that they should be worthy enough for anyone to rely on. In the issue with misunderstand with a great man once lived-Socrates by the law givers in his time, was of course an act of intimidation, non-civilization and inhumanity. There is a great disharmony between the then existent way of things, judgments and opinion which nowadays is considered as a terrible one. According to Mill (1859) we read that Mankind can hardly be too often reminded, that there was once a man named Socrates, between whom and the legal authorities and public opinion of his time, there took place a memorable collision. There has been in history the execution of great men who made great differences in life only because of disagreement with what they believe by the then governing authority. It is of course not an act of justice, not an act that depicts the presence of freedom and grants full power to the government without a full rational basis. Holding of opinion is not just enough but being able to defend it to some degree is the importance of this opinion thereof. Mill (1859) wrote in accordance to previous statement that There is a class of persons (happily not quite so numerous as formerly) who think it enough if a person assents doubtingly to what they think true, though he has no knowledge whatever of the grounds of the opinion, and could not make a tenable defense of it against the most superficial objections.. In existence are yet individuals who think one should only listen to them and believe all they say. Any argument with them evokes annoyance and possibly some punishments on the arguer in a case when they are the governing body of the very societal setting. There is great truth in this in that for civilized people the weapons of battle are words; well-constructed, that portrays opinion and substantiates it and able to prove and defend it beyond all reasonable thoughts, but not to involve any physical battles. T he battle of words is a constructive civilized way of life aimed at confirming how strong a value statement could be and should even not involve any sort of punishment. The freedom of expressing ones belief is good but more especially there should also be concomitant knowledge of the opposing belief in order to rationally express the basis of this belief. The greatness you have as a propagator of a certain belief lies in your knowledge of an opposing beliefs facts and knowing and expressing a rational assertion of superiority over the opposing belief. It is political as well as rationally worthy to discuss opinions for the complete exposure of its foundational basis and meaning. Analyzing Mills position we see that Mill opposed to individual self-restraint, to restriction of individuals freedom from the societys side, and also he opposed to restrictions on freedom of the individual and society from the states side. It is obvious that Mill was well aware that the joint lives of individuals cannot exist without any restrictions of freedom. Mill said that the freedom of one ends where the freedom of another begins. The boundary of the previous Mills statement, of course, is mobile and conventional and, incidentally, is supported in the free discussion. Mill in his treatise On Liberty provides some clarification, as this border should be determined. But wherever it took place, Mill insists that the freedom is the norm, and its limitations are rationally justifiable exceptions or pathology. An individual is entitled to any vices and f ollies, if it will not cause harm to anyone except himself. Moreover, the scope of conduct, harmless to others, in Mills explanations is much extended. If the individuals behavior provokes a moral outrage and aesthetic revulsion at the neighbors, then shrugs Mill, let them leave their feelings with themselves: the freedom of public interest and public good is more important than their feelings. It could be named Mills rationalization of tolerance. One can easily agree with him that many who profess the Christian fate lack the deep knowledge of its foundation. Mill (1859) was interested To what an extent doctrines intrinsically fitted to make the deepest impression upon the mind may remain in it as dead beliefs, without being ever realized in the imagination, the feelings, or the understanding, is exemplified by the manner in which the majority of believers hold the doctrines of Christianity. To what end will it then be in general to profess something you have no full understanding concerning. It pertains not only to Christianity but other spheres of life. The concept of the whole truth is one that is farfetched especially when considering the extent of truth in the opposing doctrines. Man is not an island and his existence knowingly or unknowingly is influenced by the existence of other people, their thoughts, activities and their way of life. It of course also freely given to man, his existence here on earth and much more especially important is also his freedom to influence his surroundings. He influences all components of his surroundings and this includes the people in it, the animals that exists in it and even the climate. If our notions will actually influence others, it will do so only when it is well grounded such that the erroneous nature of it will be near zero. In the society where the lives of men and women are being led by other men and women, there should be presence of quality and capability in these leaders. It is of course worthy and respectable the fact that leaders act, make decisions, enact laws and even enforce punishments on those they believe defaulted the law, there should also be a justifiable explanation for their actions and steps. Adequacy and competency in leadership and politics therefore not only includes actions which of course should be appropriate ones but also should include their ability to communicate their decisions, intention and even their actions to those they lead. Conclusion I agree to a great degree on the write up because of expressive power portrayed concerning the fact that truth is a complex concept that takes almost eternity to completely rationally evaluated. It is worthy of understanding then that since governing powers, humans and group of individuals are bound to be erroneous, there is only a major demand on rationally expressing the reasons of actions, views, decisions and doctrines beyond all reasonable doubts that could arise against it. Lets remember that Darwin showed the man that he was an animal in some way. Mill explained how this animal is different from all others. Unlike other animals, man is able to manipulate by himself choose the lifestyle and create own character. But the person needs freedom of thought and action for the purpose of this natural human ability has been realized and it means that this freedom must be provided to the person as soon as possible. Thus, connecting Darwins and Mills works we see that their two fundamental books were published almost at one time and they were two remarkable documents of emancipation of the human person, deeply connected with each other by a common theme, as is clearly seen in our time. Darwin explained individuals retrospection on the evolution stage, and John Stuart Mills traced prospects of human further development. Machizukuri in Japan: Overview and Analysis Machizukuri in Japan: Overview and Analysis Planning in Japan has existed more than a hundred years ago (Evans, 2010) and Machizukuri is one type of planning in Japan. By the beginning of 1980s, the term Machizukuri has been extensively used (Evans, 201), but its concept is claimed, to be changing from time to time and its term is often ambiguous as it is usually used base on peoples own understanding in many different situation (Watanabe, n.d). Therefore, the origins of Machizukuri need to be explored in order to be able to determine how the concept of Machizukuri is shaped and indirectly determining the characteristics of Machizukuri that vary it from the other types of planning in Japan. Machizukuri is a type of planning which is closely related to peoples desire in creating a livable and sustainable city (Evans, 2014). It is a type of planning where the local residents work together or in cooperation with the government by doing variety of activities to make their place attractive and appropriate to live in (Evans, 2014). Machizukuri is a collaboration of two different terms Machi and Zukuri where Machi can be defined as community, but also often means small area rather than large area and Zukuri is defined as making or planning (Watanabe, 2007). In general, Machizukuri can be understood as an attempt to improve or sustain the city with the involvement of the local residents in the planning. The activities of Machizukuri include from meeting, involvement of the resident in policy making and so forth (Watanabe, 2006). The terms Machizukuri is claimed by many to be vague and ambiguous because many have used it as a catchword. However, it is not until the early of 1960s, this term started to be adopted in the field of urban planning (Evans, 2010). As an example, the term was used in Kobes municipal and ward social councils in 1965 as a slogan (Evans, 2010). However, it is very difficult to determine when and where actually Machizukuri originated, as in the past it was used often as a catchword. Watanabe (n.d) agreed with this and he pointed out that Mr. Kan Hideshima had discovered Dr Naoto Nakajima used the term Machizukuri without accompanying the actual activities in 1947, and Dr Naoto can be one example where the term Machizukuri was used as a catchword. On the contrary, Professor Shiro Masuda had used the term Machizukuri in his journal in 1952 (Watanabe, n.d). This is believed to be the earliest work that had used the term in relation its actually activity. Although he did not describe the term precisely, he used the term in relation to peoples movement. The term Machizukuri was used in his journal about Kunitachi, where at that time, was in the middle of peoples movement due to the turning of quiet and decent college town into unpleasant place for residents to live in. Some activist called their movement Machizukuri. (Watanabe, n.d) This is believed to be the birth of the term Machizukuri with refers to the activity. However, the concept of Machizukuri itself was ambiguous. In between 1960s to the end of 1970s, several factors had taken place and indirectly had helped in shaping the concept of Machizukuri (Evans, 2010). These factors are not just favor the establishment of Machizukuri but also help to develop Machizukuris concept. The first factor is the influence of the citizens movement. Citizens movement shows that the citizens are concerned and conscious about the city they lived in. This consciousness may leads to their involvement on the planning of the city, hence, resulted in Machizukuri as citizens participation is the key factor of Machizukuri (Evans, 2010). To further elaborate, in 1950s to 1960s, Japan was focusing towards the development of its economy and industries which had resulted in a dreadful pollution. This had triggered a wide environmental protest throughout Japan over the 1960s due to house shortages, traffic congestion and environmental arose that threaten residential life of the local citizen (Watanabe, 2006). The environmental movement by the local resident has indirectly led to the popularization in local participation. This movement had given way for the awareness of citizens right and growth in citizen consciousness. The second factor is the decentralization of planning powers resulted from the 1968 New City Planning Act. The replacement of 1919 city planning act with 1968 new city planning act can be considered as step towards Machizukuri. This is because the new act did mark an important step for public involvement in the planning process (Ishida cited in Evans, 2010). As stated by Evans (2010) that other important features of the 1968 New City Planning Act include the introduction of public participation. By encouraging public participation, this will provide opportunity for Machizukuri to grow and take place. Thirdly is the slowing down of urbanization also leads to Machizukuri. This can be seen from the slowdown of urbanization due to the oil crisis in 1973, which resulted in transition of a high-growth to low-growth economy in Japan (Evans, 2010). Many changes happened after the worldwide oil crisis, this caused people to stop migrating to the city, and some went back to where they came from. According to Alden and Abe (cited in Evans, 2010), net migration to metropolitan regions of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya was almost zero during 1975 to 1980. However, the central government introduced urban system where the local areas within a city prepare its own plan (Evans, 2010). By giving the role this give the local to are more involve in the planning of the local area, hence may lead to Machizukuri, as its not only the government will be handling the planning the city but also the locals. These factors are mostly had given the opportunity for the participation of the citizens and by opening opportunity for citizens participation in planning, this will give chance for the Machizukuri to take place. Therefore, these kinds of events can be considered to be the main driving forces for the establishment of Machizukuri. Although Machizukuri is often seen as the involvement of citizens in the planning, it has other distinctive characteristics, which identify the actual Machizukuri. Consequently, these characteristics vary Machizukuri from other types of planning. The term machi in Japanese term according to Watanabe often opposes the large area. Furthermore, Vogt (n.d.) described Machizukuri to normally restricted to smaller scale projects such as a park, residential neighborhood and so forth. For example in Mano district with population of only 4,739 people (Evans,2010). and also Machizukuri in Aneya lane which is a narrow 700m long street in the centre of Kyoto (Hein, 2008). This is unlike other types of planning which usually cover large scale such as Toshi Keikaku where according to Vogt (n.d) it deals with the improvement of city or larger parts of it. This can be said to be one of Machizukuris characteristics where it is focusing normally on a small-scale area. The change resulted from Machizukuri is often claimed to be slow and gradual. This can be demonstrates in a district called Mano. This district suffered from pollution and associate health problem in 1960s which led to formation of residents anti-pollution campaign. As a result from this Machizukuri school took place in 1970s where this school consists of lectures and workshops on topics related to residents campaign. In addition, Manos residents had drew up a machizukuri plan where it is a whole plan for Mano and consist of their vision, and ways to achieve this. Twenty years since, the appearance of Mano changed significantly. (Evans, 2010). This can also be seen on Sanjo Machizukuri, it took over 20 years for the Machizukuri to transform a declining wholesale area to an attractive place for shopping or dining and so forth (Hein, 2008). This is another characteristic of Machizukuri, where the change is rather slow, this is due to revitalizing a local area without uprooting the loca l population, therefore, it is incremental. Machizukuri is also seen as a method that focusing on the soft aspects of planning unlike the traditional town planning which is more towards the hard aspect such as roads and other phyical infrastructure (Evans, 2010). Machizukuri may include the hard aspect as well but it emphasis more on soft aspect such as upgrading an area. This can be seen in Sanjos Machizukuri, Kyoto, where the centre of its commerce has an unpleasant appearance. Therefore, in this case, it focused on the economic and social renewal of Sanjo Street, and this indirectly had dealt with the environmental problem (Hein, 2008). In conclusion, Machizukuri is a concept which did not understand very well by many in the previous years. Determining the origins and identifying its characteristics helped in understanding and shaped the actual concept of Machizukuri. Although, it is difficult to really determine the actual origin of Machizukuri, but the term itself has been used since the 1940s and its concept have been shaped by several events between 1960s to 1970s. Furthermore, Machizukuri has its own characteristics, which represent its peculiarities from other planning. References: Evans, N. (2010). Machi-zukuri as a new paradigm in Japanese urban planning: reality or myth?. Japan Forum. [Online] 14:3 (2002). p. 443-464. Available from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0955580022000008745 [Accessed: 8th March 2014] Evans, N. (2014), Community Planning lecture notes distributed in Urban Japan at Kings College London, London. on 6th March 2014 Hein, C. (2008) Machi: Neighborhood and Small Town The Foundation for Urban Transformation in Japan. Journal of Urban History. [Online]. Available from http://juh.sagepub.com/content/35/1/75 [Accessed: 8th March 2014]. Vogt, S. (n.d.) From Toshikeikaku To Machizukuri Urban Planning In Tokyo With Special Reference To The Participation Of The Residents. [Online]. Available from http://www.linkclub.or.jp/~erisa-25/kosakuin/warehouse/silke01.htm [Accessed: 18th April 2014] Watanabe, S. J. (n.d.) The Historical Analysis of the Kunitachi Machizukuri Movement: Its Nature and the Role of Professor Shiro Masuda. 15th International Planning History Society Conference. [Online]. Available from: http://www.fau.usp.br/iphs/abstractsAndPapersFiles/Sessions/36/WATANABE.pdf [Accessed: 8th March 2014] Watanabe, S.J. (2006) ‘Machizukuri in Japan: a historical perspective on participatory community-building initiatives’, in Hein, C. and Pelletier, P. (eds) Cities, Autonomy, and Decentralization in Japan,[Online] London: Routledge, pp.128-138. A vailable from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bm[emailprotected]sessionmgr4001vid=1format=EBrid=1 [Accessed: 12th March 2014] Watanabe, S.J. (2007) ‘Toshi keikaku vs machizukuri’, in Sorensen, A. and Funck, C. (eds) Living Cities in Japan: Citizens’ Movements, Machizukuri and Local Environments, [Online] London: Routledge, pp.39-55. Available from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bm[emailprotected]sessionmgr4001vid=1format=EBrid=1 [Accessed: 12th March 2014]