Czeslaw Milosz' "The Captive Mind"

Paper Summary:

The paper explains that, in "The Captive Mind", dissident Polish author Czeslaw Milosz relates that Karl Marx and John Stewart Mill stand as polar opposites in the history of modern Western thought. The author points out that Marx is the defender of modern international communism; whereas, Mill is the defender of modern, parliamentary democracy. The paper states that, like Mill, Milosz defends the rights of the individual over that of the collective by saying that all governments must acknowledge what is most fundamental to the human condition, a desire for liberty.

From the Paper:

"In short, the individual can be deluded the farther he or she moves away from his or her sphere of knowledge. Individuals must have the allowance to learn from the different frames of reference of others, rather than have their interests assumed to be the part of something larger. Milosz makes critical defense of how associations of common persons, even oppressed persons, must be chosen and not imposed in terms of overarching theories like Marxism, as the individual's interests and frame of reference may vary from moment to moment in historical time and also in terms of place."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto 1848.7 Mar 2006. h<ttp://eserver.org/marx/1848-communist.manifesto/cm1.txt>
• Mill, John Stewart. "On Liberty." 7 Mar 2006. 1869. <http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/m/mill/john_stuart/m645o/>
• Milosz, Czeslaw. The Captive Mind. New York: Vintage, 1999.

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