PHIL 2060 Chapter Notes - Chapter 19: Harm Principle

• School: University of Virginia
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 2060
• Professor: Simmons Alan

Document Summary

There is no moral constitution (no well-known and orderly way of introducing moral legislation to duty constituted moral legislatures, no clear conviction of majority rule) A citizen works illlegitimately to change public moral beliefs when he abandons argument and example for force and fraud. Enforcement of morality and the attendant punishment of sin are ends in themselves: j. f. Stephen was expressing this type of moralism when he said there are acts of wickedness so gross and outrageous that they must be prevented at any cost to the offender and punished if they occur with exemplary severity . And by preventing future sins: repentance, apology, or forgiveness set things straight and punishment is. Obscene literature and pornographic displays are materials deliberately published for the eyes of others, and their existence can bring partisans of the harm principle into direct conflict with those who endorse both the harm and offense principles.