ABSTRACT
The utilitarian philosopher is one of the most important theorists of liberalism, and his ideas still cast a long shadow over contemporary debates. This chapter provides an overview of Mill’s argument for a liberal approach to speech and the conditions of knowledge acquisition. All knowledge claims are ultimately based on inductions from experience which are constantly exposed to falsification and review. To facilitate the growth of knowledge Mill argues for broad freedom of speech, discussion and publication, and consequently, he rejects censorship in the face of conventional opinion. Mill extends this right even to a positive duty to protect error as an epistemic basis for testing new beliefs and our appreciation of them. His privileging of error and unpopular opinion is central to his defence of the constitution of a liberal democratic state where he acknowledges both the educative function of democratic deliberation and argument but also the requirement to challenge the claims and limit the powers of governing elites. However, whilst his domestic politics is open, progressive and enlightened this does not extend to the international domain where his defence of imperialism and his views of ‘backward’ civilisations suggest an attitude far less tolerant of diversity or error when it is found in non-European cultures and civilisations.
