존 스튜어트 밀은 자유론에서 생각의 자유와 토론의 자유는 분리될 수 없는 영역이라고 서술하고 있다. 밀의 자유론의 원칙은 자기 자신에 관련된 영역에 대해서는 절대적인 자유를 보장해야 하며 타인에 관련된 영역에 대해서는 타인에게 해를 끼치지 않는 범위에서 자유를 허용해야 한다고 주장하고 있다. 이런 맥락에서 본 논문에서는 토론의 자유가 타인에 관련된 영역임에도 불구하고 왜 자유를 허용해야 하는지에 대해, 밀의 공리주의의 원칙인 개별성 제고와 토론의 자유의 관계에서 바라보았다. 밀이 최고의 덕목으로 삼고 있는 진보하는 개인을 위해서는 표현의 자유와 그러한 표현들을 중심으로 한 토론이 이루어져야 한다. 방향성을 가진 표현의 자유는 사람들이 자유롭게 자신의 지력과 판단력을 증진 시킬 수 있는 필요조건이며, 이러한 필요조건이 열매를 맺기 위한 사회 분위기가 매우 중요하다. 이를 위해 밀은 사람들 간의 소크라테스의 대화법 형식의 열린 커뮤니케이션을 강조하였다.
　
This paper tries to find out the reasons for the freedom of discussion by John Stuart Mill. Mill argues that the freedom of thought and freedom of discussion are inseparable. This research poses the following research question: Why did Mill strongly argue the freedom of discussion? To approach this question, this paper looks at the relationship of the promotion of individuality which has been suggested by Mill for both utilitarianism and dialogue. Mill warns the phenomena of conformity to follow the opinions of majority without thinking by themselves in democracy. He wants people to make own judgments by themselves. In order to do that, people have to develop their own intellectual capacity. To have a discussion of the development of individual, unlike most liberal philosophers, he employs the concept of individuality borrowed from romanticism. The concept of individuality plays a great role in Mill’s developing his reasoning for the magnitude of the liberty of discussion. The concept of individuality is the place where individual and society meet together to influence each other. Also, Mill describes that the thoughts are patterned by the language unlike most Enlightenment thinkers. Most Enlightenment thinkers argue that the pattern of thought and the use of language are totally different. However, Mill suggests that the pattern of thought is greatly influenced by the use of language. In this context, Mill highlights that the freedom of thought is greatly influenced by the use of language. Therefore, the freedom of speech is very important in guaranteeing the freedom of thought. Furthermore, Mill develops the importance of freedom of discussion to develop individuality. Through exchanging opinions with others, individual can get the grasp of the shortcoming of his/her own opinions because people have to have bias as well as logical fallacy. Mill says that the dialogue by Socrates has been a remarkable method and epistemology for reaching the truth. Mill highlights that there have been two kinds of discussion, eristic and dialogue at his time. He recommends dialogue rather than eristic communication because eristic communication tries to find out the method to win over others’ opinions. However, dialogue tries to find out one"s own errors through the comparison with other arguments. From the perspective of the mode of communication, Mill proposes that the freedom of discussion, dialogue, has to be guaranteed to promote individuality. Mill does not put an emphasis on the finding of the truth, rather he highlights the process of going to the truth. In this context, the freedom of discussion based on Socrates dialogue is to reflect the importance of the process rather than results.