The Harm Principle

Students: Hear James Taylor live at the Exploring Liberty http://lrnlbty.co/x5Zi3P or Liberty and Society Seminars http://lrnlbty.co/zVrPEg this summer

According to Prof. James Stacey Taylor, John Stuart Mill's harm principle has been one of the most influential political principles on classical liberalism. The harm principle states that the only reason to restrict the action of another individual is to prevent harm to others. If someone is harming themselves, you are only justified in attempting to persuade them. In theory, the harm principle has a lot to offer to those who frame laws. Unfortunately, it has not been thoroughly used in practice.

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[kevn101]

there should be a rule that teachers with british accents need to learn how to speak without one... i find it soo hard to understand what the hell there saying and my school has teachers with accents and its soo annoying

[mallardhead]

STUPID! .. It is irrational to think that what you do (that only seems to harm yourself) has no ramifications for those around you. ... Damn I wish you could think things through a lot better.

[BloodskullMannoroth]

@moviesontheweb So what if some guys are drinking on a street corner?

[moviesontheweb]

By harm I'm supposing you mean physical harm and not harm to the decorum of society? I guess John Stuart Mill was and extraordinarily tolerant man. In the inner city of Philadelphia groups of you people stand on the occasional street corner and swig their brew openly on any given Friday or Saturday evening. Mr. Mill's style police force do noting, more because of community standards than the improbable enforcement of the law. Should the law be abandoned?

[bdg323]

@Zontertes They have multiple babies because they don't know which ones will make it! They don't know if their little Timmy or Susie would last to 10 years old! Mathematically, it makes sense why they have multiple babies. Just to have 2 kids last to adulthood, they need, like, 6 children! (I don't know the actual statistics, but you understand the point)

[Zontertes]

@bdg323 what does that have to say about 3rd world areas that are famine stricken and yet people continue to have multiple babies. don't underestimate the human sex drive: it doesn't care if you run out of food. dicks and vaginas don't pay attention to economics.

[bdg323]

@drochaid If you see a man only drinking and causing no harm to others, you should only try to convince him to stop. If they are beating their spouse or children, intervention from a third party should be recognized under law as fine and violating no one's rights, since they were trying to protect someone's rights.

[bdg323]

@Zontertes You just ignored the price system and efficiency. What happens as there are more mouths to feed? Demand, obviously, rises. What happens if supply can not rise fast enough to prevent the increase in price? Well, prices increase. If food prices increase, it is usually common for other prices to go as demand keeps going up. As prices rise, what is one thing adults probably will cut back on?

Having Children.

Because of fintie resources, we limit ourselves.

[McBagginz]

@Zontertes I somewhat agree with you however... How are we to know what the critical mass of the planet ACTUALLY is? How are we SO sure that we are near it? If we happen to reach it, nature will likely work the same as a free market? People WILL starve (due to production), there WILL be new disease in order to bring about equilibrium. People in the crowded streets of London during the industrial revolution thought we were at critical mass back THEN! Imagine if they saw the population we have now

[Zontertes]

i understand the philosophy of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but the Giant Elephant in the room is the Fact that the Earth has finite resources and is rapidly approaching critical-human-mass. When there exists more mouths than available farmland can feed, some people are going to be FUCKED if some kind of Communal agreement isn't reached.