“We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.”
This powerful statement comes from the brilliant mind of John Stuart Mill. It serves as a cornerstone for modern arguments about free speech. Mill, a 19th-century English philosopher, penned these words in his influential essay, On Liberty. The work champions individual freedom against the authority of the state and society. Consequently, this single sentence captures the essence of his defense of intellectual liberty. It presents a two-part argument that remains incredibly relevant today.
The Source: John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty
John Stuart Mill published On Liberty in 1859. Source . This period in Victorian England was a time of great social and intellectual change. Mill worried about the