John Stuart Mill, Epistemic Fallibility, and the Normative Rejection of Authoritarianism: A Democratic and Deliberative Appraisal Introduction John Stuart Mill’s defense of liberty in On Liberty (1859) constitutes one of the most enduring philosophical interventions in the normative foundation of liberal democracy. Central to his thesis is the provocative and uncompromising claim: “All silencing of … Continue reading How does John Stuart Mill’s assertion that “all silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility” challenge the epistemological and normative foundations of authoritarianism, and what implications does it hold for democratic theory, freedom of speech, and deliberative political processes?