If the regulation is more harmful than the behavior in question, it may be best not to regulate, despite the pro tanto case for regulation"[footnoteRef:5] It is here the challenges ensue of weighing the different rights of one individual versus another or against society as a whole arise. For example, mandating that health insurance be provided for all employees by employers who possess businesses of a certain size (say over fifty people) is designed to prevent the harm of leaving persons uninsured. But mandating coverage may cause harms to a business owner because of the expense and to the public when additional costs are passed on to consumers. The question of whether the regulation is more harmful than the benefit accrued by the regulation is less obvious. In some instances, such as legalizing gay marriage, any potential harms (supposed infractions of individual's religious beliefs) may seem obviously outweighed by the benefits of according full liberties to gay and lesbian people. But with other decisions, the cost-benefit analysis of the harms of regulation versus not regulating are not so obvious. [5: Ibid.]
Of course, Mill himself was cognizant of this fact, as an inhabitant of a capitalist society. Capitalism by its very nature has a divide between the haves and the have nots. Mill supports this, given his view that "there are some actions which harm others, but which should nevertheless be allowed."[footnoteRef:6] Economic competition is not the same as fraud because "allowing economic competition, Mill thought, contributes more to the general welfare of society than preventing it."[footnoteRef:7] Commensurate with his utilitarian principles, Mill did not view liberty and the harm principle as an expression of individual rights as much as he saw it as furthering the good of society. [6: Michael Lacewing, "Mill's harm principle," Routledge, 2-3. http://documents.routledge-interactive.s3.amazonaws.com/9781138793934/A2/Mill/MillHarm.pdf] [7: Ibid.]
John Stuart Mill's concept of liberty professes to be liberal but ends up with a distinctly 'non-liberal' feel when analysing the details. This paper endeavours to define exactly what Mills' notion of liberty is and how it should be regulated by studying his book "On Liberty." The main discrepancies of his theory will be highlighted so as to demonstrate the apparent contradiction between his ideology and the examples he chooses
Moreover, how does he justify saying one would rather be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool who is satisfied? His point is obvious - it is better to have brains and not achieve happiness than be dumb and be contented. But Socrates, brilliant as he was, chose death over exile from Athens, which it can be argued did not lead to happiness in Socrates nor in the students who admired
Personal usefulness or utility is not required to clash with public usefulness. Usefulness or Utility is often misguided for pragmatism. but, pragmatism is the affinity to encourage certain preferred objective, regardless of the consideration between what is correct and reasonable. Utility is the standard level of being practical, and hence it must take into account not just what would generate a preferred objective, but what would encourage the maximum
John Stuart Mill on Liberty In John Stuart Mill's brilliant 19th Century essay "On Liberty" he states that "the worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it." What Mills is purporting in that statement is that the State (the government) must not impede on the natural development of individual liberty. We are never to forget that we have inalienable rights for life and
Unfortunately, we have had no more success at finding that limit than Mill did, for what we see all around us today is that very same "political despotism" of which Mill speaks with trepidation. Mill writes that it is the "majority" who makes "the ways of mankind" (102-3), but his notion of "majority rule" appears to be based on the assumption that political despotism has not been enshrined. Majority rule
Liberty, by John Stuart Mill [...] how John Stuart Mill would view the issue of pornography. Pornography has been argued by many feminists and advocates for women's rights to be pernicious to women because it eroticizes and promotes relationships of inequality and subordination of women to men. For this reason, they argue that pornography should be censored. What you think Mill would say about this? Would Mill be a