Passage (John Stuart Mill, *On Liberty*, 1859, Ch. II): "But I deny the right of the people to exercise such coercion, either by themselves or by their government. The power itself is illegitimate. The best government has no more title to it than the worst. It is as noxious, or more noxious, when exerted in accordance with public opinion, than when in opposition to it. If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." Which of the following can be **most strongly inferred** from the passage about Mill's view of false opinions?
AFalse opinions are harmless, since they do not affect the truth.
BThe circulation of false opinions can yield a benefit to those who hold the truth.
CFalse opinions should be tolerated only when there is doubt about their falsity.
DThe harm done by silencing a false opinion is greater than the harm done by silencing a true one.
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. The circulation of false opinions can yield a benefit to those who hold the truth.
The last sentence states the wrong-opinion branch explicitly: when a silenced opinion *is* false, what is lost is "the **clearer perception and livelier impression of truth**, produced by its collision with error." That is a positive benefit, accruing to those who already hold the truth. The benefit comes from the collision, not from the falsity itself.
- **A** is the position Mill rejects — false opinions are *not* harmless to silence, because silencing them robs everyone of the chance to sharpen the truth against them.
- **C** ascribes a procedural condition to Mill that he does not state and that would in fact contradict his categorical "the power itself is illegitimate."
- **D** is unsupported — Mill calls the wrong-opinion case a benefit "**almost as great**" as exchanging error for truth, i.e. **not greater**.
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