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Mill, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Kant

4. John Stuart Mill in his work On Liberty proposed a simple principle for determining whether society has a right to limit individual freedom, a principle based on utilitarian concepts and applicable to the individual in his or her dealings with society. that principle can be stated as follows. Mill asserts the principle of non-interference where the individual is concerned, though this applies only to adults and not to children. Mill bases his idea on the self-development of the individual. He does not, however, base this idea on any sense that there is a natural right on the part of the individual to develop himself freely, and instead he bases it on the principle of utility. This principle says that each individual should be free to develop his or her own powers and abilities according to his or her will or judgment as long as they do so in a way that does not interfere with the rights of others. From the standpoint of society, says Mill, this is also desirable because it is preferable that individuals develop themselves freely since this enhances society, while having everyone conform does not. The free development of the individual is one of the principal ingredients of human happiness, and therefore it is a utility for the individual to develop himself freely as a way of achieving that happiness. In Considerations on Representative Government, Mill indicates his dedication to that form while at the same time showing his concern for the excesses of direct democracy. This is not inconsistent with his ideas in On Liberty.

5. All societies are defined by economic relations, and the economic relations of society are defined by class structures. The trend in history is toward simplification. In the past, says Marx, society was more complicated, with the population arranged into a complex system of different orders and different social ranks. The many classes of the Roman era are described by him, as are the many classes ...

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Mill, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Kant. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 20:44, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702680.html