Commentary: On Liberty, Chapter I

Mill, On Liberty (Chapter 1) Commentary    Mill's introduction in my opinion is the key and most important parts of his essay, because it states the main points to Mills theory and suggestion on the individual liberty and what it may requires of limitation in order to maintain a civilization well controlled and balanced society acting on a fare and reasonable power.  Mill thinks that society is evolving towards a systematic ruling abiding by its laws and the public opinions; a society that has more power over the actions and thoughts of an individual than an individual has over himself. Mill argues that society should have control over only those acts that affect the society and its members. For those who tend to act in a way where they might harm themselves, then the society should stay out of it and no ruling must be  evoked to interfere in that act, given that it is not a good enough reason to use government power and ruling against those actions. How does Mill explain his reasoning? This is the question of this commentary.    In the goal of avoiding social noisiness or to better say, social interference in terms of the society involvement in it's individual's thoughts and activities. Mill is not just indication his point about laws, but in addition to that he refers to "moral reprobation." An individual or group must not act on a person's behavior by deciding they should be punished for whatever wrong they might have been involved in, for example, treating that individual who's idea don't approve to ours as an enemy, if his ideas and actions only affect himself. In rejecting the legitimacy of coercive opinion, Mill opens a bigger scope of his claims but at the same time he does leave open option for people to express disapproval of actions they dislike.    Mill's idea is in progress, because he believes that individuals and society as a whole can work together and reach to a common path to improve themselves.  Along with the opinion that considers different societies to exist on a clear hierarchy of value; those societies must be governed like children, until they can reach a certain level if stability and eventually become capable of exercising their liberty. Yet while Mill considers progress and civilization to be great end and reaching points to a society, he also expresses his fear and great concern on what comes along with progress such as steps to behold in the reach to the goal which is for the best interest of the society and improvement to it's members with all disregards to anything harmful to anything outside the sphere of the society.    In this introduction, Mill precisely calls his reasoning of liberty utilitarian.  Mill says outright that his defense of liberty will not be based on natural rights, as Lock had suggested before, or on metaphysical claims like Kant covered. Instead and differently than Lock and Kant, Mill draws his argument on mankind welfare, and that is how Mill suggestion brings out this argument to prove how individual and social best interest of human liberty can be outside of the scope of interest if they are free and limits and not set to be of  control reflecting benefits of human liberty.