PHIL 329 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Paternalism

• School: University of Calgary
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 329
• Professor: Yoshiki Kobasigawa

Document Summary

Mills on liberty: the liberty - harm principle. Human beings are pursuers of happiness - he is considering to which extent liberty should be protected and when should it be restricted. Protected up until the point where liberty results in harm to others. In all other cases, an individual"s pursuit of happiness should not be restricted and, in particular, on matters that are personal (matters that don"t harm others and, at worse, harm the actor) We get a range of permissible acts - ones that don"t harm others, Acts that harm others, impede or interfere with others" pursuit of happiness are considered wrong. Illustration: bridge case - an individual considers the risks and benefits of crossing an unsafe bridge and decides to cross the bridge. It would be wrong to interfere with an individual if he wants to cross the bridge.