John Stuart Mill

Question 1

key ideas

Answer 1

1. the harm principle: individuals should be free to do anything except harm other people
2. tolerance: being prepared to accept values, customs and beliefs with which one usually disagrees with

Question 2

human nature

Answer 2

human actions are either ‘self-regarding’ (affecting only the person undertaking the action) or ‘other-regarding’ (affecting other people)

Question 3

society

Answer 3

Mill endorsed tolerance and the right to hold a minority view - a widely-held opinion did not always make it correct

Question 4

the state

Answer 4

• the state or other individuals should not interfere with self-regarding actions because they do not harm other people
• however, the state and other individuals should curb other-regarding actions if they harm the freedom of others
• self-regarding actions and ‘unharmful’ other-regarding actions should be tolerated by the state
• tolerance of diverse views would promote new ideas and expose flawed ones