Matthew Arnold disagreed. Arnold did not wholeheartedly
disagree with Mill’s criticism of a society inertly bound to customary
institutions. In fact, Arnold
vehemently attacked
religious institutions for their narrow-minded scope. In Culture and Anarchy he denounces the Puritans for their rigid dissent of anything outside
themselves. This may seem to unify Mill and Arnold, however,
entwined in Arnold’s criticism of the Puritans, is his assail of Mill’s propagation of
individualized progress. Arnold argues against the Puritans’ zealous
strictness of
conscience because they have created rules based on nothing. This
compares to Mill and Browning’s idea of the individual developing without any type
of foundation. Again, in the second chapter of Culture and Anarchy, Arnold clashes with Mill. Arnold agrees with Browning
about the dangers of excessive individualism.