or, as Mill more eloquently puts it, "it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they [geniuses] grow. Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom...If from timidity they consent to be forced into one of these moulds [of conformity]...society will be little the better for their genius" (on Liberty, 9). Mill uses the extreme example of genius to illustrate the general principle he has devoted this entire book to; namely, that individual liberty is essential for the progress of a society. In this particular facet of his argument, he uses the archetypal vision of the genius to add a concrete incarnation of what otherwise might be an abstract and abstruse concept. Instead, Mill's view of liberty is rendered strikingly clear by his use of logic...
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