Questions of free speech have become commonplace in contemporary society. But too often conversations on this topic devolve into partisan bickering. Questions of free speech are complicated and cannot be compressed into mere talking points. To really understand the matter, we need to go back to the origins of modern thought.

In this course, we do just that, taking a deep dive into John Stuart Mill’s classic book On Liberty. This book is widely considered to be the greatest text about freedom of speech ever written.

The course is a chapter-by-chapter guide to Mill’s book, with detailed whiteboard animation videos that outline Mill’s argument in his own words, with many examples to clarify his points. The whiteboard animation illustrations make the difficult portions of the text digestible and accessible for everyone.

This course could be taken as a standalone window into Mill’s thought, or it could be taken while reading the book itself for clarification and review.

John Stuart Mill provocatively writes that :"The only part of the conduct of anyone for which he is amenable to society is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign".

Why does he feel this way?Take this course to find out why.