In John Stuart Mills' On Freedom, he presents four arguments regarding freedom of expression. According to Mills, we should encourage free speech and discussion, even if this may oppose a belief you believe to be true. Essentially, when you open yourself up to other opinions, Mills believes you'll end up getting closer to the truth. Instead of simply accepting something as true because you're told, Mills argues that accepting both sides will make you understand why your side is true or false. Mills is convincing in all four of his statements because, as history would show, accepting both sides of an argument is how society improves. Mills begins with his first argument fearing that people will be silenced when they express their opinions. He expresses this by saying, “First, if an opinion is forced into silence, that opinion may, as far as we can know for certain, be true. To deny this is to presuppose our infallibility” (50). Mills means that when someone's opinion is silenced by another, the latter will assume that his or her beliefs are true. Mills believes that the people who “silence” people the most would be the Catholic Church. He thinks there are the greatest prejudices against people who speak out against what he believes. He explains, “…that much of the noblest and most precious moral teaching has been the work, not only of men who did not know, but of men who knew and rejected the Christian faith” (49). Essentially, some of our most important teachings come from people who speak against the Christian Church. In summary, Mills believes that for people and society to progress, we must give them the ability to think for themselves. Mills is convincing in his first argument because a silenced society will never… middle of paper… we can prove this more accurately. Mills is persuasive because it is difficult to justify one's argument as true when no other opposing sides are heard. This notion links directly to his fourth and final argument. In Mill's fourth argument he discusses the importance of learning and understanding our opinions, because when we understand our opinions, it makes our argument much stronger. Mills believes that “experience” is important when debating. “Every adversary who presses them and to whom they find it difficult to respond appears to them, if he shows a strong feeling in the matter, to be an intemperate adversary” (50). Mills means that a lack of belief makes your argument less valid. Mills is persuasive because when people hold a belief because it's told to them, they never care enough about that belief to feel like they have to take action..