Pol S 201, May 13, 2009

Announcements:

•The Karl Marx essay, "The Meaning of Human Requirements," added to the reading assignments for Thursday, May 21, is now available on E-reserves. You can access the E-reserves through the UW Library website.

•May 18-22 is Human Rights Awareness Week, sponsored by UW Amnesty International. The week is packed with films, lectures, and even games. For more information, please visit

•Wednesday, May 20. "Declassifying Torture: The Torture Memos/ Holding Those Responsible Accountable." A roundtable discussion featuring UW professors Jamie Mayerfeld, Brett Rubio, and Stuart Streichler. School of Social Work, Room 305 AB, 6 pm - 8 pm.

Mill, On Liberty, cont.

•War on Drugs in the US, some facts:

–1.8 million drug arrests in the US in 2005

–42.6% of these arrests were for marijuana offenses.

–Today about 493,800 people are behind bars for drug offenses, compared to an estimated 41,000 in 1980.

–But many drug users evade arrest: For example, Clinton, Bush, Obama

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•General US incarceration policy, some facts:

–2.3 million people behind bars

–500% increase in the past 30 years

–Over 1 in 100 adults behind bars

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•Sources: Sentencing Project, New York Times

Incarceration rates in US compared to other countries

•Number of inmates per 100,000 people (New York Times, 2008)

–United States: 751

–England: 151

–Germany: 88

–Japan: 63

–Median among all nations: 125

Mill: We should permit even offensive and harmful speech. Exceptions for direct incitements violence.

•“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” The Supreme Court has come to close to Mill in construing the right to freedom of speech very broadly. (Obvious exceptions for perjury, threats, bribes, etc.) But foreigners have been barred entry on the basis of speech.

•How should we respond to harmful or offensive speech?

•Answer: criticize it.

Mill, unlike Rousseau, welcomes difference. For Rousseau, a free society is a society of togetherness. For Mill, it is a society of people going off in different directions.
Millian virtues: an ability to live with intellectual conflict; tolerance for complexity; resistance to the pressure of public opinion; the value of withholding judgment
Courage is needed to live in Mill’s free society.

Further reflections on freedom of thought and discussion:
Mill argues that neither culture nor religion should be placed beyond criticism.
Mill and religious fundamentalism. The problem of internal censorship.
Religious Fundamentalism: The view that the truth of certain religious texts or doctrines is beyond question.

From thought and discussion to conduct . . .
Three reasons for liberty of self-regarding behavior

1.The suppression of self-regarding behavior is intellectually arrogant.

2.Liberty of self-regarding behavior is good for society.

3.Liberty of self-regarding behavior is good for the individual.

a)I am more committed to my own good than you are.

b)I know better what is good for me than you do.

c)Independence strengthens and improves my character.

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