Chapter 3, Of Individuality as One of the Elements of Well-Being Summary and Analysis

The author continues the discourse from whence he had left off at the end of the preceding chapter. Here he takes the matter under discussion deeper, into the individuality of people within a society. As the entire work is focused upon divining the proper limitations of individual liberty and governmental authority this same task in turned to here.

Here John Stuart Mill addresses the impact of how opinions are expressed within a societal context. He differentiates between the legitimate use of free speech and the acts of instigation and provocation. He claims that expressing any opinion and having it published and circulated in the press in general is simply the use of free speech. However, he says, taking a dissenting position loudly before...