For Mill, what is the value of the individual and how is he/she different from the masses. Moreover, why is he/she rare?
Come to class guys with your favorite passages and I will do my best not to talk and just hear your thoughts on this inspiring text.
Cheers,
Dr. L
An individual is one who uses “observation to see, reasoning and judgment to foresee, activity to gather materials for decision, discrimination to decide, and when he has decided, firmness and self-control to hold to his deliberate decision.” An individual is one whose desires and impulses are one’s own, which have been developed and modified by one’s culture. They take delight in every increase in any of their capabilities of comprehension, of action, or of enjoyment. An individual constantly discovers new truths and points out when old truths are true no longer.
ReplyDeleteThe individual is different from the masses in that they do not act because of custom. The masses are without opinion or feelings of home growth. They have no tastes or wishes strong enough to incline them to do anything unusual. In addition they, “read the same things, listen to the same things, see the same things, go to the same places, have the same rights and liberties, and the same means of asserting them.” The individual is a well-developed human being where as the masses work like a machine that is programmed to work the same way no matter what.
The individual is of utmost importance to Mill. Individuality is essential because through it one develops his self and his well-being. This development of oneself comes from examining one’s knowledge of previous human experience and interpreting it for his self. All individuals are different, require different situations for his own development, and therefore, have differing ideas. With these differing ideas come originality and creativity—the foundation for progress.
ReplyDeleteThe individual is rare because he thinks for himself, where as the masses follow each other and the prevailing popular idea. If all the people within the masses thought as individuals then they would encounter great progress as society. Society, though, naturally prefers conformity.
For Mill, the individual is the key to ahving a productive society. We need to all, as individuals, be able to speak our mind and express our opinions. This is vital. If even one person has a differeing opinion, the majority should not be allowed to silence that person because the liberty of no person can be ignored. Aside from the individual alone, the individual as he relates ot the truth is highly important. Mill says that the truth will get shut down over and over because of tyrants, and it takes strong individuals to ensure that it does one day becoem known to the masses. This I think is most important in Mill's message is this notion of the individual being the carrier of truth into any age that will accept it.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, Mill's writing style is insufferable. He has a wonderful message that anyone and everyone should hear/read, but he is so difficult to get through because he uses so many interjections, that you lose track of his point. I have to go back and re-read sections mentally deleting interjections to actually get the point. Ok I'm done ranting. It's a great text except for that issue.
The individual possess many different key characteristics which separates him/her from society. The value of the individual rests upon his/her ability to alter and influence their surroundings. It is because of the individual that conformity is minimized, difference of opinions and argumentation are raised, and an overall intellectual society is born. The individual is rare because most “individuals” share similar opinions due to them being easily influenced, and as such, converted to the masses. The individual who holds their own values and their own opinions in high esteem far away from the standards of conformity is an individual who is truly individualized. Such individuals are rarely found due to the pressures, problems, and other issues individuals must overcome in order to stay apart from the masses. Individuality comes at a price which most people are not willing to pay.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Mill, conformity enslaves people to mediocrity and stifles true genius. He stresses the importance of individuality and that it is the only way to improve one's self and live the best life possible.
ReplyDeleteSo what makes an individual? Mill places great emphasis on choice. If the child is educated, but blindly accepts another's truth, then he is not truly being an individual. "One whose desires and impulses are not his own, has no character, no more than a steam engine has character."
An individual means being more than the sum of your parts--more than what you are expected to be. An individual's ideals can't come from the influence of the world around him, he is a product of his own thoughts and feelings and he holds tight to what he believes in whether or not the "masses" follow or believes in what he preaches.
ReplyDeleteThe conformer is created when the personal will bends to another will, when standing up for what someone believes in is not an option (usually out of fear.) People conform when the tyranny of the majority is stacked up against the individual until he or she crumbles.
Mill's ultaritarianism focuses on providing the possibility of the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The most important part of that phrase is the word possibility. Mill praises the individual because of his ability to determine his own fate and make his own decisions. The great individual for Mill is the person who chooses freely and wisely to improve his lot in life, while he frowns upon those who conform and do not take advantage of their individuality by fully buying into a cultural or religious system. Mill would actually prefer someone who takes a risk with individual choice and fails than the person who loses their individuality. The individual is rare because of the multitude of things people can lose parts of their will over such as styles, fads, religions, cultural demands, social demands etc.
ReplyDeleteThe value of the individual is to have his/her own opinions and values. I think the quote, "One whose desires and impulses are not his own, has no character, no more than a steam engine has character" really sums up his interpretation of the "individual". Basically, an individual won't choose to believe something because he/she thinks other people will like him/her more for it. Real individuals will follow their own path, regardless of what other people would think of them. An individual thinks for him/herself.
ReplyDeleteAn individual must always question what is considered "truth". If nobody questioned truth, the truth would be "dead dogma." Individuals must also question their own beliefs of what is true. By doing this, they can make sure that they are actually truths.
The value of an individual is what he/she makes himself to be worth. Mill puts forth the idea that without basically free will, a person is just another face in the crowd. He encourages the people to be individuals in their own sense, so that they satisfy themselves and not necessarily others. By giving a person a soul, the person has the choice to conform to society's standards or become the nonconformist. By conforming to society, it seems that a person downlplays their individuality by being another face in the crowd. By being the nonconformist, that person becomes a true individual with his/her own true soul and character. It is from these nonconformists that we learn the most interesting things of life. This ideal individual is rare because in life, everyone wants to fit into the crowd and become another face. Few have the ambition to detach themselves from the norm and try to live a good life that defines themselves as an individual.
ReplyDeleteAn individual is one who thinks and acts entirely on his own regard. He has little to no influence from the world around him. He holds his own opinions regardless of what others may think or say. An individual differs from the masses in the fact that he does not view make opinions based on others “better judgements” but on his own.
ReplyDeleteFinding a true individual is rare since almost everyone wants approval from those around them. This constant want of approval changes our actions and thoughts to merge happily with others to make oneself excepted by others.
It is the right, and the responsibility of the individual to question and defy the acts of the masses. The catalysts to change the perception of the masses almost always stems from the individual attempting to correct the wrongs that society has laid upon the population. Without these astounding individuals who have the courage to act against the status quo. If no one had the drive to question what they found to be harmful to mankind, we would like in a society that could easily be manipulated by those in charge, because the masses by definition tend to follow what they are told. It only takes one thought to revolutionize the world, but it takes an individual who is brave enough to materialize the thought and spread it to those who are willing to listen and participate.
ReplyDeleteFor Mill, an individual is one who analyzes and interprets a situation and makes an intelligent choice. Mill does not say that the individual necessarily as to be against social accepted norms of society but most only conform to these norms if this is his own choice. Those who lack individuality "choose what is customary, not in preference to what suits their own inclination. but because it does not occur to them to have any inclination, except for what is customary."
ReplyDeleteThese individuals are important for society as it allows society to change, to remain adaptive and be progressive. After all it was these types of "individuals" that expressed their opoinion against the social norm, which allowed us to have some of the basic rights that we now take for granted, such as universal adult suffrage. Finally this shows that these individuals are valuable not only to themselves but to society at large.
To Mill, an individual is someone who powers their own life from within. They depend on their own intellect and internal mental processes to assess life and fulfill the good life.
ReplyDeleteThey are different from the masses because the masses use ouward influences to assess life and try to fulfill the good life.
They are rare because most people are afraid to move out of their comfort zone. When the masses are pushing one way, there is fear to go against them, pressure to stay with them, and the nagging suspicion that if everyone believes it, it must be right. It is a rare and courageous person who can look inside themself and seek out the voice that tells them to go another way. With so much working for the masses and against the individual, it is difficult to find that voice and bring it out.
The individual has great importance to Mill as a counter-balance to society since Mill regards the liberty of speech to be of the utmost importance. It is the individual who argues against the majority opinion with his or her own dissenting opinions. The dissenting opinions have merit if they are right, and even if they are wrong since they strengthen the resolution behind the true belief.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that the individual is rare for a few reasons. First of all is the obvious one, if the individual is the one who thinks against the majority, then obviously the individual is rare, since if his viewpoint was the majority he'd no longer be an individual. Second, people want the appraisal of those around them. As Socrates and Jesus (as Mill himself brings up) realized, dissenting opinions generally don't make you the most popular fellow.
I think the best summation of Mill's thoughts on the individual is that one should not conform. This is not to say that one cannot agree with a group of people or just a person, but that one should choose based on his own beliefs and experiences whether or not a certain decision is wise or not. I particularly agree with the likening of a conforming person to a steam engine.
ReplyDeleteFor Mill, the individual is one whose opinions stand above the influences of others. They can hear and consider the opinions of others, but are not swayed by pressure to act from others.His beliefs and actions stand above the forces of others, and he acts as he sees fit, from his opinion. He is the mos important part of society, because he causes deviation, which causes progress.
ReplyDeleteAll individuals are different and have differing ideas. An individual thinks and acts intelligently. Their value is what they determine themselves to be worth. The individual thinks for himself, while the masses follow each other and popular ideas. If all the people within the masses thought as individuals then they would encounter great progress as society. However society prefers conformity and that is what the individual frowns upon.
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