The Problem of Freedom

Excerpts from the Paper

The Problem of Freedom
Freedom is a topic that many political thinkers explore. Two political thinkers who wrote considerably on freedom, responsibility and society are Friedrich Nietzsche and John Stuart Mill. Nietzsche believes that freedom is incompatible with society. Mill on the other hand suggests that freedom (liberty) is necessary for generating new knowledge and having a health society. As a result few people in Nietzsche’s opinion are able to be truly free and almost everyone can be free in Mill’s opinion.
In this essay it will be argued that Nietzsche and Mill are describing similar phenomena. However, they reach very different conclusions about these phenomena. Nietzsche suggests that free people need to isolate themselves from...

.....he’s argument.
In conclusion, both Nietzsche and Mill make arguments about the relationship between freedom and society. Nietzsche suggests that society is the enemy of freedom because it tempts individuals to conform. Therefore, there are few free people. Mill believes that free people are a necessity for a society to evolve. Individuals are a benefit to society in this sense. As a result there are many free people. When both arguments are compared Nietzsche’s argument is stronger because it does not contradict itself.
Works Cited
Mill, John Stuart, On Liberty, Elizabeth
Rapaport
(ed.), Hackett
Publishing Company, Indianapolis, 1978.
Nietzsche, Friedrich, Beyond Good and Evil, Marion Faber
(Trans.), Oxford University Press, New York, 2008.