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Meaning Of Harm In John Stuart Mill's On Liberty

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The exclusive meaning of 'harm'
In Mill's liberal view, individuality and liberty are sovereign rights of all citizens. However, in chapter four of On Liberty, 'On the limits to the authority of society over the individual', the philosopher acknowledges one instance in which the state regulatory system should be employed, in order to 'prevent harm to others' (Mill, [1859] 2009, p.19). This perspective is called the 'harm principle', serving as a singular indicator of a need for a governmental control and a potential interference. This principle distinguishes private acts of individual selves, and acts that affect others. However, maintaining that the state control has a tendency to interfere wrongly, harshly or falsely, Mill's standards for …show more content…

Mill warns about the danger of abuse, derived from group decision making, where 'social tyranny' emerges from within the society (Ten, 2008). The majority is able to oppress minorities, denying personal freedoms, and tempering with the ideals of liberty and autonomy. Therefore, democracy functions in paternalistic ways, creating 'antagonism between human excellence and political society' (Berkowitz, 2000, p.150). Since the majority can be misled, and thus prosecute individuals who differ, Mill promotes the application of individuality, regardless of predominant ideas, attitudes and beliefs. If a society embraces autonomy and free self-realisation attitudes, it can also accommodate diverse opinions, and include those who stand out (Ten, 2008). Hence, for example, racial and ethnic minorities are not marginalised by paternalistic regulations, and can exist in their own right, while appreciating the society at …show more content…

For Mill, individuality is acquired through one's discipline and life-long education (Berkowitz, 2000). When discussing compulsory schooling of children, Mill adopts a strict approach, justified by his claim that children do not have fully developed faculties, and, therefore, must be educated to gather knowledge, and to become critical thinkers. What lessons they transfer into their adulthood is of lesser significance. Ten (2008) describes this as 'paternalism that develops their capacities for genuine choice, and makes possible a life of individuality' (p.13). As adults, schooled individuals are then more likely to value individuality as a

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Perhaps the greatest example of this can be seen when Equality witnesses a man being burned at the stake for speaking the unspeakable word: a word that implies an individual entity of one’s self. Equality “... stood in the great square with all the children and all of the men of the city [and watching the burning of the man at the stake]” (50). Equality and his whole community witness the burning of a man who discovered true individuality in the darkness of collectivism. This burning sent a dark but fiery message to the citizens of this collectivist community because now, the people of this society can be sure that if they rebel against their collective, they will be burned to something less than waste (or suffer a fate of similar caliber). Through such punishment, Rand demonstrates that in such collective societies, leaders must extinguish acts of individualism, and go to far lengths to do so.

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I think I will divert the train to the right killing one person because one person is less important than five. Sometimes it is important to do what is right than what is morally good to do. The utilitarianism is a moral theory that gives happiness to the number of people in the society and it has been considered greatness, an action is morally appropriate if its outcomes lead to happiness and wrong if it results in sadness. I will begin by describing what Mill might do in the Trolley situation. Next, I will contrast what Kant might do in this situation and lastly, I will be also going to give my opinion on this Trolley situation.

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Mill identified the above thinking that talks about the power of the nation as the power of the people with political liberalism that emerged in Europe (Mill, 3). This form of State that emerged in Europe gradually occupied the entire earth. This sort of government, although theoretically based on the consent of everyone, is in reality, according to Mill based on the will of the majority or, as Mill says, those who have succeeded in making themselves the majority and who wield political, economic, and social power over the rest. Thus, the turn to governments based on people’s “consent” did not necessarily make modern societies more democratic, for power still remained in the hand of those who influence the decision making that affects millions of people. Mill says, “The will of the people, moreover, practically means, the will of the most numerous or the most active part of the people, the majority, or those who succeed in making themselves accepted as the majority…..

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Both the harm principle and legal paternalism are aimed at upholding an individual’s liberties within the law. However, they argue different view points and restrictions. The harm principle is chiefly concerned with upholding an individual’s right to somehow harm oneself, while legal paternalism says the law can interfere to prevent an individual from harming oneself. This is the most obvious distinction between the two philosophies. Dworkin’s argument for legal paternalism, however, uses Mill’s argument against him, and ultimately proves to be the stronger principle to justify law.

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In many countries, people follow the government rules restrictively, not sharing their ideas of the ideal society. On the other hand, in countries where people do not follow the government rules, people go to the street, making protests to promote their thinking of the ideal society, resulting in a big impact on their lives, which is very fascinating. After some research and doing reading responses about Mill and Emerson’s works, I got very interest about the subject, knowing that I can actually apply their concepts in my life. Both philosophers share the same concept of individual freedom and the importance of a critical thinking, rather than follow other’s people ideas. In my research, I would like to explore its importance on the actual society and how people can change their lives through the liberty.

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Let’s first look at Mill’s idea of of accruing knowledge for an entire nation. Only then it can be seen that the different mechanisms outlined by different authors have clear benefits and drawbacks depending on the scale and situation in which they are implemented. In Considerations on Representative Democracy Mill claims that representative democracy is the best form of government. Importantly,

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The last author to critique J.S. Mill’s harm principle was Peter Glassman. Of the numerous analysis of John Stuart Mill’s harm principle, Glassman offers the least critical evaluation. In J.S. Mill: The Evolution of a Genius, Glassman views the harm principle as John Stuart Mill’s way of defending each individual’s “power to think,” and as a way to distinguish his ideas of utilitarianism from those of Jeremy Bentham, and his father’s, James Mill (116). Peter Glassman views the harm principle as a defense of an individual’s intelligence. According to Glassman, John Stuart Mill was suggesting that people “are most [themselves] in [their] power to think” (116).

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Mill argued that as long as I am not harming anyone else, my “independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.” While his take on utilitarianism was still questioned he also believed that we should maximize utility not case by case, but in the long run. With this practice in place, over time respecting individual liberties would lead to the greatest human happiness.

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There are other instances when the harm principle has been invoked but where it is more difficult to demonstrate that rights have been violated. For example, hate speech. Most liberal democracies have limitations on hate speech, but it is debatable whether these can be justified by the harm principle as formulated by Mill. One would have to show that such speech violated rights, directly and in the first instance.(I am interested here in hate speech that does not advocate physical violence against a group or individual. If it does, it would, like the corn dealer example, be captured by Mill 's harm principle as speech that can be prohibited).

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If people have no place to voice their will or take part in deciding their own destiny, the community might grow disinterested and passive in their relationship with their government. Mill believes this is problematic for society because history, as he sees it, has shown that more democratic societies have more ‘energetic, and ‘developed’ societies as well as more ‘go ahead characters’ not seen in more totalitarian societies. Yet, this criticism might fail to cover a deeper problem of disinterest; it might lead to a level of moral deficiency as well. Mill fears that a loss of ability and activity, leads to a society losing its sense of communal responsibility and social justice. In their aloofness, people might be less inclined to believe that they have any responsibility to society since society has ceased to have any rights or purpose under absolute authority.

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