SPCOM475 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Harm Principle, On Liberty
7 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The private sphere: importance of mills on liberty . Liberty is not an intrinsic good but good in a much as it promotes happiness and the progressive development of human being (71) Even if it"s not intrinsically good, liberty should only be restricted to prevent tangible and demonstrable harm to others. Group of sadomasochists get together, they can harm each other, that"s ok in mills eyes. In public sphere, harm to people is grounds to regulate liberty. We should all have an obligation to participate in self-improvement. Can be persuaded but should not be coerced. Your values and lifestyles should not be dictated by others. Individual liberty benefits individual + society: individuality = diversity. The harm principle the interpretation of harm . Your thoughts are your own, if you offend someone this can cause harm. If private behavior causes harm, it falls into public sphere. Censorship hinders the testing and emergence of the truth.
