PHIL 2060 Chapter 19: Feinberg Notes 6
11 May 2016
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Similar, obscene remarks over a loudspeaker, homosexual billboards, and pornographic handbills thrust into the hands of passing pedestrians all fail to be reasonably avoidable. The offense principle can give no warrant to the suppression of books on the grounds of obscenity: because when printed words hide behind covers of books sitting passively on shelves, their offensiveness is easily avoided. The nuisance law governs cases where certain activities create disruptions such as loud noises or terrible odors that other people have to deal with: in the case of dirty books the offense is easily avoidable. But the smell of week-old trash seeping over into a neighbor"s yard is not as avoidable, unless the neighbor wants to temporarily move. You simply have to close the book to escape that offense. An individual"s liberty may be taken away in order to prevent harm to others.
