The Harm Principle In John Stuart Mill's On Liberty

In “On Liberty” John Stuart Mill believes that the government should not be able to stop someone from doing an act that harms no one other than themselves this is called the harm principle. He states that the governing party may reason with the one who may be making a decision that may bring harm to themselves but they should not be able to give him a punishment if he does whatever they are opposed to as long as it does not bring harm to others. In this essay I will be agreeing with Mill but with a few exceptions.

Mill stated “that the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized society, against [their] will is to prevent harm to others. His own good either physical or moral is not sufficient warrant.” The harm principle also has a qualification for who it applies to and when it should be applied. It only applies to people who are adults in the eyes of the law who are not mentally disabled or handicapped to a certain point. In the quote from “On Liberty” that I used earlier the word harm means physical, psychological, and economic harm to one’s interest. That way the term cannot be misconstrued by someone saying someone saying that harm was done to them because someone wore a certain piece of clothing that they didn’t like or something of that nature.

Also that the government shouldn’t even nudge you into the direction of not making that decision because he is a huge advocate of no paternalism. As for his views on the idea that the government should have some control on some moral issues he would also strongly oppose one because he would probably say if you give them leeway to make some necessary laws based on morality they will eventually make some unnecessary ones. (Also based of an article I just skimmed through about Mill he probably wouldn’t oppose Jim Crow laws