John Stuart Mills Flashcards
What fundamental Freedoms do we have as per charter s2?
- of conscience and religion
- thought, belief, expression opinion (including press/media)
- peaceful assembly
- of association
S7 charter?
has the right to life, liberty, and security and cannot be deprived except with accordance to the principles of fundamental justice
S8 charter?
right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure
s9 charter?
Right to not be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned
Who came up with the harm principle?
John Stuart Mills
Mills view on religion and the state?
the state should be neutral when it comes to religion, or not support religion at all as it is unfair for them to favour
Utalitarianism
- emphasis on individual liberty
- goal of society is to maximize pleasure, minimize pain and have the greatest good for the greatest anount of people
Positive Liberty
Liberty of self governance- self governing
Negative Liberty
Freedom from interference from others (Mills)
Who has the concept of the two types of liberties and what are they?
Isaiah Berlin, positive and negative liberty
According to Mills, when is the only time you can interfere?
for self protection- or only to prevent harm to others.
According to mills, should you interfere if someone is causing harm to their own well being?
Absolutely not, the only time society can and should interfere is when it regards others
When can society tell you what to do?
- when you are harming others
- when you are neglecting a duty you owe to others
What are mills exceptions?
- children
- “barbarians”- people of backward state- he says gov. should be able to have full rule over these people to make the better
Domain of liberty
the domain of your life that concerns only yourself and those who have made their own choice to be affected by you
Utility
Maximize overall benefit to society
Maximizing freedom and min. intervention in peoples lives
aAccording to Mills, what is freedom?
pursuing your own good in your own way as long as you’re not depriving others of their freedom
Why does Mills advocate for free speec/expression?
allows for truth to be debated and tested- even if what is beinf debated turns out to be wrong, we all learn from testing
Tyranny of the majority?
Society has its own rules and norms that people follow, those who don’t are shunned. This type penetrates the soul, worse than gov. tyranny.
When can freedom of speech be punishable
When it can cause harm/ violence to invoke on someone else
Can we encourage each other to make better choices according to Mills?
we owe it to each other to encourage to seek better but we must not coerce
is the harm principle a part of canadian law?
No, we can and do criminalize things that cause harm to only ourselves
remoteness objection?
whos to say that your harm isn’t harming someone else- if your self harm is stopping you from fufilling your duties only then should you be punished
Paternalist objection
why as a socitety can we not illegalize activities that we know are bad for you? - if we interfere we will do it wrong, this is a self regarding situation, we don;t acc care about the harm to themselves part its more about them goiung against the norm
Malmo- Levine case
Marijuana smoker, posession and possible trafficking, tried to use harm pricniple (s7) and said that its a part of his life and isnt harming others
What market does Mills prefer?
free market, technically this is an area that can be regulated but shouldn’t be because it won;t give best results
Mills on marriage?
if both people want to they should be able to divorce, hwoever, they have a moral obligation to consider others affected
Mills and education
Education should be mandatory, paid for by parents but subsidies for those who can’t afford
- state should not set curriculum, want diversity
- mandatory testing but only on facts n such
Mills and the Gov.
1 likely better done by individuals than gov.
2. indv may not be able to do things as good or efficient but it will be good for them as they will learn
3. we cannot give the gov all the power and let thme control everything
4. mostky self gov but state should be there to guide and direct people to where they can find assistance
