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Passage (John Stuart Mill, *On Liberty*, 1859, Ch. II, continued): "For while every one well knows himself to be fallible, few think it necessary to take any precautions against their own fallibility, or admit the supposition that any opinion, of which they feel very certain, may be one of the examples of the error to which they acknowledge themselves to be liable. Absolute princes, or others who are accustomed to unlimited deference, usually feel this complete confidence in their own opinions on nearly all subjects. People more happily situated, who sometimes hear their opinions disputed, and are not wholly unused to be set right when they are wrong, place the same unbounded reliance only on such of their opinions as are shared by all who surround them, or to whom they habitually defer: for in proportion to a man's want of confidence in his own solitary judgment, does he usually repose, with implicit trust, on the infallibility of 'the world' in general. And the world, to each individual, means the part of it with which he comes in contact; his party, his sect, his church, his class of society." Which of the following best states Mill's main observation in this passage?

APeople in absolute monarchies are uniquely prone to overconfidence in their own opinions.
BAlthough people abstractly acknowledge their own fallibility, they routinely fail to apply that recognition to their actual convictions.
CPeople should rely on the opinions of those around them rather than on their solitary judgment.
DThe world's opinions are usually correct, so deferring to them is wise.
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Although people abstractly acknowledge their own fallibility, they routinely fail to apply that recognition to their actual convictions.
Mill's opening sentence states the paradox: *every one well knows himself to be fallible, [yet] few think it necessary to take any precautions against their own fallibility*. The rest of the paragraph develops the gap between abstract acknowledgment of fallibility and concrete behaviour. - **A** narrows the claim to absolute monarchs; Mill includes ordinary people too (just on a smaller scale). - **C** and **D** describe the position Mill is **critiquing**, not endorsing.
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