Following the first day of our candidate forum between Mill, Marx and Freud, I had frustration that I needed to get out, an hour later the following text was complete as it is displayed, any revisions that were made were grammatical.
The core of Mill’s ideas centers on the individual and the individual’s significance in societal direction. Mill offers a perfect and idealized balance between what the individual wants and what the individual can perform in society. Under a Mill framework, the liberty of the individual shall not be constrained by any dominant power so long as the individual does not harm any single individual or group with his actions. The goal of the individual is to promote social and individual well being by performing actions that do not contribute negatively to the overall utility of society.
Restricting the individual in unnecessary ways will in the long term restrict society from progressing and improving. If individual discourse is not permitted, if the individual is not provided autonomy in decisions that are pertinent to the individual then how can a society truly possess these same powers.
Sigmund Freud attempted to describe the discontent of those living in society and pinned the blame on the societal norms restricting the individual from progressing towards their desires and suggested removing the limitations on “love objects” that humanity should be able to have. This in some instances can be okay and beneficial for society as in the case of bisexuality and homosexuality, as mental issues see a decrease within these respective groups when these actions are made legal. The main issue arises when incestual relationships are being pursued Charles Darwin famously made note of issues that can potentially arise as a result of inbreeding, with the issues only getting worse with each future generation. It is not in the best interest of humanity for all restraints to be loosened as this will result in both societal agony as well as future individual suffering.
Karl Marx’s critiques of capitalism are not baseless, however, to suggest the collectivisation of all property and means of production is simply out of the question. As described by Freud, humanity has been endowed with natural instincts and those instincts cannot be denied forever without consequences that damage the psyche and by extension society. So how would Marxist ideas of collectivism work in such a way? Do Marxists believe they can best human nature? I doubt it. Mill argues that work that can be done by the private sector should be done by the private sector while Marxists believe all of this is better left to the state. Some of those representing Marxist ideals state that even when governments in individualistic societies perform actions it is actual private entities buying power and taking control of the back seat, while I disagree with this being the case, let’s roll with it for now. Assuming this is the case then while the state has never done anything wrong it also has no holding for the good done in the name of government like: child labor laws, environmental regulations, or employee protections that fight back against some of the very critiques that Marx throws at capitalism’s path. Marx centers his discussion on class struggle and how those class struggles have persisted and just changed form throughout the history of the world and under capitalism it is the proletariat against the bourgeoisie. Social hierarchies were a lot more rigid back in the days of feudal society or the Roman empire, individuals are able to move between social classes with enough time and dedication to that end. Only after pro market reforms in the 1980s and 1990s did the claimed communist chinese society begin to see the rate of people living in extreme poverty (as defined by the world bank) decrease substantially and it was only after China allowed individuals to effectively own real estate did the GDP per capita of China skyrocket from $2694 in 2007 to $12720 in 2022. The effective application of Marxist ideas in governments around the world has resulted in nothing but restrained liberty with poor economic conditions. All the self proclaimed communist regimes that have existed are a culmination of Marxist idealism combined with Freudian psychoanalysis and a rejection of Millian ideals.
The free flow of ideas, the unrestrained individual - with exceptions abiding to the harm principle - is the only way that society has progressed. All of this is independent of capitalism which only served as a means for expediting the decay of the old regimes in light of the new. A society filled with ambitious individuals willing to do whatever it takes to make progress is the best condition of a society. The division of labor and specialization allow people to do what they do best in a way that is contributing to some aspect of society. It is because of specialization and this division of labor that Marx was able to write at all; the same can be said with Freud.
The basic unit of civilization is the individual, this cannot be forgotten. Prioritizing the liberty and utility of the individual will be more beneficial to society than to its detriment.