Quotation
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“He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him, has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation.”
John Stuart Mill · Liberalism · Modern · 1859
What does it mean?
Whoever lets the world, or his own little piece of it, choose his plan of life needs no faculty but imitation, which Mill calls ape-like. Individuality is one of the elements of wellbeing, not a decorative extra. A rival reading says the insult to custom is unfair: most good lives are lived inside practices we did not invent, and calling that imitation is how a liberal flatters originality. He is attacking the surrender of judgement, not the existence of traditions. A person can inherit a practice and still have chosen it.
Did John Stuart Mill really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. Mill's English in the chapter on individuality. 'Ape-like' is his word, and it is an argument about faculties, not a slur he paused to enjoy. The faculty he thinks withers is judgement.
Where it comes from
On Liberty, chapter 3
Approximate date: 1859.
How to use it
A graduate in Nottingham takes the job their cohort takes, and cannot say why except that the cohort took it. He thinks the faculty that withers is the one that could have asked. The job may still be the right job. The test is whether a plan was chosen or only copied. Copying can be rational. Unexamined copying is what the ape is doing in the sentence.
A mindset reading
Custom is not the villain of On Liberty in every line. The villain is the surrender. If you use the sentence to sneer at people with fewer options, you have added a cruelty he did not need for the argument.
Understand the philosophy
Chapter 3 is the positive case for experiments in living, after chapter 2's case for discussion. The harm principle is what stops the experiments becoming a nuisance. He says so. The ape sentence does not cancel that limit.
- freedom
- self
- virtue
FAQ
What does it mean?
Whoever lets the world, or his own little piece of it, choose his plan of life needs no faculty but imitation, which Mill calls ape-like. Individuality is one of the elements of wellbeing, not a decorative extra. A rival reading says the insult to custom is unfair: most good lives are lived inside practices we did not invent, and calling that imitation is how a liberal flatters originality. He is attacking the surrender of judgement, not the existence of traditions. A person can inherit a practice and still have chosen it.
Did John Stuart Mill really say this?
Well attested. Mill's English in the chapter on individuality. 'Ape-like' is his word, and it is an argument about faculties, not a slur he paused to enjoy. The faculty he thinks withers is judgement.
Which work is it in?
On Liberty, chapter 3 Approximate date: 1859.