POLS 351 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: The Good Life, Negative And Positive Rights, Rationality

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Political Studies
• Course: POLS 351
• Professor: Margaret R Moore

Document Summary

British empire mill was a supporter (worked for east india company) Vanity versus self love (amour propre) concern with public opinion (public sphere: greater pressure towards conformism, vanity gives incentive for false-representation, wealth seen as a competition. Positional competition: not how much, but how much compared to others. People put up with un-freedom (feeling trapped) for the sake of competition. As long as power is exerted democratically, it cannot go wrong: not true majority take away power of the minority. Mill"s question: the only legitimate reason for coercion is prevention of harm to others mill"s answer. Cannot coerce to prevent individuals from harming themselves. Individual moral right to lead your own life so long as it does not impede on the lives of others. Despotism is a legitimate mode of government when dealing with barbarians . Utility principle: opinions must be put into use.