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WHAT IS THE HARM
PRINCIPLE? HOW SUCCESSFULLY DOES MILL DEFEND THIS PRINCIPLE?
INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY
"Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is
sovereign."
Chapter 1
WHAT IS THE HARM
PRINCIPLE? A PERSON MAKES DECISIONS AND LIVES WITH THE
CONSEQUENCES, BUT NO ONE ELSE SHOULD HAVE TO LIVE WITH THOSE
CONSEQUENCES
"That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are
warranted, individually or collectively in interfering with the
liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection.
That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised
over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to
prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral,
is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to
do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because
it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to
do so would be wise, or even right."
INDIVIDUALISM AND THE RIGHT TO SELF-INTEREST
Chapter 2
HERESY- POSSIBILITY IT
COULD BE RIGHT, CHALLENGES OUR OWN BELIEFS AND THE STRENGTH OF
THOSE BELIEFS
Chapter 3
EXPERIENCE FOR ONE'S SELF
"But if he refrains from molesting others in what concerns
them, and merely acts according to his own inclination and
judgment in things which concern himself, the same reasons which
show that opinion should be free, prove also that he should be
allowed, without molestation, to carry his opinions into practice
at his own cost."
EVEN THOUGH THERE IS A PROPOSED AGE LIMIT ON INTERVENTION, NO
DIFFERENT THAN A LITTLE CHILD WHO TOUCHES THE BURNER OF A STOVE
THE INDIVIDUAL MOVE
TOWARDS PROGRESS VS. CUSTOM AND CONFORMITY
"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. He who chooses his plan for himself,
employs all his faculties. "
SELF DEVELOPMENT THROUGH
INDIVIDUALITY, BENEFICIAL TO OTHERS
"In proportion to the development of his individuality, each
person becomes more valuable to himself, and is therefore capable
of being more valuable to others."
NEED FOR INDIVIDUALITY VS.
ASSIMILATION FOR CULTURE TO DIVERSIFY
"If resistance waits till life is reduced nearly to one
uniform type, all deviations from that type will come to be
considered impious, immoral, even monstrous and contrary to
nature. Mankind speedily become unable to conceive diversity,
when they have been for some time unaccustomed to see it."
Chapter 4
AS SOON AS THERE MIGHT BE
REASONABLE DOUBT FOR HARM TO BE DONE TO THE GENERAL WILL,
CONSEQUENCE CAN BE QUESTIONED
"The acts of an individual may be hurtful to others, or
wanting in due consideration for their welfare, without going the
length of violating any of their constituted rights. The offender
may then be justly punished by opinion, though not by law. As
soon as any part of a person's conduct affects prejudicially the
interests of others, society has jurisdiction over it, and the
question whether the general welfare will or will not be promoted
by interfering with it, becomes open to discussion."
BUT IS THERE STATE
INTERFERENCE...? LAWS CAN BE CREATED, BUT HOW WELL CAN THEY BE
ENFORCED?
"Considerations to aid his judgment, exhortations to
strengthen his will, may be offered to him, even obtruded on him,
by others; but he, himself, is the final judge. "
CREATING A BAD REPUTATION
AND A BAD OPINION FROM OTHERS- PERSON'S RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF
OPINION
MAN IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR
LACK OF RESPECT, SELF-DEVELOPMENT, ETC. BECAUSE IT DOESN'T HELP
THE GOOD OF MANKIND
MARTYRDOM? IF A PERSON WHO
INFLICTS PAIN ON THEMSELVES SHOULD BE SHIELDED FROM STATE
INTERVENTION, THEN WHAT BENEFIT DO THEY GET FROM THE HARM
PRINCIPLE? IN OTHER WORDS, IS THE HARM PRINCIPLE PERMITTING FREE
MASOCHISM OR SUICIDE? THE WEB OF HUMAN RELATIONS WOULD LEAD ANY
ACTION TO CREATE A RE-ACTION WITH SOMEONE ELSE.
MILL CONCEDES THE FACT
THAT INDIRECTLY, A MAN'S LACK OF RESPECT, SELF-DEVELOPMENT, ETC
WILL INDIRECTLY AFFFECT OTHERS. THIS LEADS TO HIS MORAL
APPROBATION
"Whenever, in short, there is a definite damage, or a
definite risk of damage, either to an individual or to the
public, the case is taken out of the province of liberty, and
placed in that of morality or law. "
NATURAL PENALTIES A PERSON
INCURRS ON INLFLICTING HARM ON THEMSELVES. E.G. A DRUNK PERSON
MIGHT SUFFER A HANGOVER AFTER A BENDER.
NO RIGHT TO ENCROACH ON A
PERSON'S PERSONAL TASTES AND SELF-INTERESTS. WHAT YOU WANT ISN'T
WHAT I WANT.
"A theory of "social rights," the like of which
probably never before found its way into distinct language--being
nothing short of this--that it is the absolute social right of
every individual, that every other individual shall act in every
respect exactly as he ought; that whosoever fails thereof in the
smallest particular, violates my social right, and entitles me to
demand from the legislature the removal of the grievance. So
monstrous a principle is far more dangerous than any single
interference with liberty; there is no violation of liberty which
it would not justify; it acknowledges no right to any freedom
whatever, except perhaps to that of holding opinions in secret,
without ever disclosing them; for the moment an opinion which I
consider noxious, passes any one's lips, it invades all the
"social rights" attributed to me by the Alliance."
RELIGIOUS
SELF-DETERMINATION AND THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM WITHOUT IMPOSITION
"It IS a determination not to tolerate others in doing what
is permitted by their religion, because it is not permitted by
the persecutor's religion. It is a belief that God not only
abominates the act of the misbeliever, but will not hold us
guiltless if we leave him unmolested."
Chapter 5
SUMMARY
"The maxims are, first, that the individual is not
accountable to society for his actions, in so far as these
concern the interests of no person but himself. Advice,
instruction, persuasion, and avoidance by other people, if
thought necessary by them for their own good, are the only
measures by which society can justifiably express its dislike or
disapprobation of his conduct. Secondly, that for such actions as
are prejudicial to the interests of others, the individual is
accountable, and may be subjected either to social or to legal
punishments, if society is of opinion that the one or the other
is requisite for its protection."
AT WHAT LIMIT DO WE
PREVENT HARM FROM BEING DONE?
"Idleness, except for constitution of breach of
contract..."
"Offences against public decency..."
"A person should be free to do as he likes in his own
concerns; but he ought not to be free to do as he likes in acting
for another under the pretext that the affairs of another are his
own affairs."
WHY THERE SHOULDN'T BE
STATE INTERVENTION
1. "Speaking generally, there is no one so fit to conduct
any business, or to determine how or by whom it shall be
conducted, as those who are personally interested in it."
2. "...it is nevertheless desirable that it should be done
by them, rather than by the government, as a means to their own
mental education--a mode of strengthening their active faculties,
exercising their judgment, and giving them a familiar knowledge
of the subjects with which they are thus left to deal."
3. "Every function superadded to those already exercised by
the government, causes its influence over hopes and fears to be
more widely diffused, and converts, more and more, the active and
ambitious part of the public into hangers-on of the government,
or of some party which aims at becoming the government."
CONCLUSION
"The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the
individuals composing it; and a State which postpones the
interests of their mental expansion and elevation, to a little
more of administrative skill or that semblance of it which
practice gives, in the details of business; a State, which dwarfs
its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its
hands even for beneficial purposes, will find that with small men
no great thing can really be accomplished; and that the
perfection of machinery to which it has sacrificed everything,
will in the end avail it nothing, for want of the vital power
which, in order that the machine might work more smoothly, it has
preferred to banish."
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