IHP 132 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Social Stigma, The Modern Age

• School: Duquesne University
• Department: IHP - Honors College
• Course: IHP 132
• Professor: Dr.Patrick Miller

Document Summary

Since humans are fallible, differe(cid:374)t (cid:862)e(cid:454)peri(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts of li(cid:448)i(cid:374)g(cid:863) are (cid:448)alua(cid:271)le the e(cid:454)pressio(cid:374) of i(cid:374)di(cid:448)idualit(cid:455) is esse(cid:374)tial for i(cid:374)di(cid:448)idual a(cid:374)d social progress. There is a great moral emphasis on making choices instead of simply accepting customs without questions (only people who make choices are using all of their human faculties) People become more valuable to themselves and others when they establish their individuality. How are those who exercise their liberty as individuals valuable to others: dissenters may discover new goods and keep alive existing goods. (cid:862)ge(cid:374)ius (cid:272)a(cid:374) o(cid:374)l(cid:455) (cid:271)reathe free i(cid:374) a(cid:374) at(cid:373)osphere of freedo(cid:373)(cid:863: unoriginal people tend to not see the value of originality and tend to shun genius for mediocrity. Mill argues that all people should value what originality brings to the world: the modern age tends to diminish the individual and encourage mediocrity (as a result of the democratization of culture and government)