6.3b John Stuart Mill & John Rawls Flashcards
John Stuart Mill (1806-73)
John Stuart Mill was a 19th Century Liberal thinker, who is famous for writing “On Liberty”.
Mill: “On Liberty” - freedom
In “On Liberty”, John Stuart Mill sets out his view of the Harm Principle.
“On Liberty” focuses on the importance of individual freedom, and how this is vital to society and to the individual.
Mill argues that it is important to have a society with lots of diverse characters.
Mill believes that all individuals have free will and have responsibility for their own lives.
This text links to liberal ideas of individualism, freedom and responsibility.
Mill: Tolerance
Mill writes about ideas and truth in “On Liberty”.
Mill argues that just because an idea is popular, it is not necessarily true.
Mill says that individuals should discuss ideas and test them out through discussion to see which ideas are true - for example by playing the devil’s advocate (arguing from the opposition position to one’s own).
Mill believed that established beliefs should be challenged, and shouldn’t just be accepted because it is popular.
Mill: The harm principle
The Harm Principle is the idea that an individual should be free to act as they wish, as long as they do not harm other individuals.
John Stuart Mill argues that the only acceptable intervention in an individual’s liberty by the state should be to stop someone from harming another individual and limiting their freedom.
This supports the limited state, which has few coercive powers.
We should not be able to undertake actions that limit another person’s freedom.
John Rawls (1921-2002)
John Rawls was a liberal political and moral philosopher from America. His most famous publication is “A Theory of Justice”.
Rawls: “A Theory of Justice”
Rawls tried to resolve the problem of balancing freedom and equality in “A Theory of Justice”.
Rawls argued that freedom and equality can be balanced in a principle he called “justice as fairness”.
“Justice as fairness” is the idea that the principles of justice in society are the principles that everyone in society would agree on if they assessed society from a position of ignorance.
Rawls: The Veil of Ignorance
Rawls proposed a thought experiment in which an individual has to imagine which society they would want to live in but were unable to know their position in that society.
Rawls argued that all individuals would want to live in a society with a fair justice system, a good education system and equality of opportunity.
Rawls: Challenges to the veil of ignorance
The Veil of Ignorance has been challenged - philosophers have argued that it does not take into account the possibility of some people choosing an unequal society in the hopes of gaining more, and accepting the risk that they might become worse off.
