D. Freedom of Action (On Liberty, ch. III)
It entails our being able to act according to our own inclinations and judgments, without hindrance from others, so long as we act at our own risk and period. People should have he freedom to plan their lives so as to suit their own character. He denies society or other persons the right to interfere even when we engage in publicly disreputable activities as drunkenness, gambling, idleness, and fornication, provided, of course, that we do not harm others in the process. Society benefits by allowing individuals to experiment with different ways of living so as to test them in practice:
“The initiation of all wise or noble things comes and must come from individuals; generally at first from someone individual. The honor and glory of the average man is that he is capable of following that initiative; that he can respond internally to wise and noble things, and be led to them with his eyes open.”
Freedom of action fosters development of all our human capacities, including creativity and character, so as to improve the individual as well as society at large:
“It is not by wearing down into uniformity all that is individual in themselves, but by cultivating it, and calling it forth within the limits imposed by the rights and interests of others, that human beings become a noble and beautiful object of contemplation; and as the works partake the character of those who do them, by the same process human life also becomes rich, diversified, and animating, furnishing more abundant aliment to high thoughts and elevating feelings, and strengthening the tie which binds every individual to the race, by making the race infinitely better worth belonging to. In proportion to the development of his individuality, each person becomes more valuable to himself, and is therefore capable of being more valuable to others. There is a greater fullness of life about his own existence, and when there is more life in the units there I more in the mass which is composed of them.”
Given the many differences in tastes among human beings, their happiness requires tolerance for individual differences in actions.
“The only unfailing and permanent source” of progress or improvement in human existence, as is evident from observation of different societies, resides in the freedom to pursue different paths, to challenge various customs, and to be innovative. Regarding matters that concern only themselves, individuals are most likely to be their own best judges:
“But neither one person, nor any number of persons, is warranted in saying to another human creature of ripe years, that he shall not do with his life for his own benefit what he chooses to do with he. He is the person most interested in his own well being; the interest which any other person, except in cases of strong personal attachment, can have in it, is trifling, compared with that which he himself has; the interest which society has in him individually (except as to his conduct to others) is fractional, and altogether indirect; while with respect to his own feelings and circumstances, the most ordinary man or woman has means of knowledge immeasurably surpassing those that can be possessed by anyone else. The interference of society to overrule his judgment and purposes in what only regards himself must be grounded on general presumptions; which may be altogether wrong, and even if right, are as likely as not to be misapplied to individual cases, by persons no better acquainted with the circumstances of such cases than those are who look at them merely from without. In this department, therefore, of human affairs, has its proper field of action.”
