ABSTRACT
Timelessness is the signature of revelation in Judaism. This chapter offers a critique of J. S. Mill’s formulation of the liberal idea. It aims to address the dilemmas that Mill faced and poses not by narrowing but by broadening Mill’s idea of liberty. Mill himself plays with doubts addressed to the assumption that the free flow of ideas will inevitably trend upwards and fulfill the human hope of intellectual progress. The values of the Judaic tradition and the principles articulated in its canon stand proudly among the ancestors of modern liberal humanism. The practical impact of Mill’s preference for an absolute and formal notion of the liberties of expression has not been the removal of the sort of restraints he abhorred. The laissez-faire approach to intellectual liberty will generate clutter, and in time, a glut, as any bulletin board or newsgroup where access is anonymous and free will demonstrate.
