Liberty Limiting Principles

(Principles that attempt to indicate under what circumstances it is permissible to limit the liberty of a person (X).)

(These are notes, not complete statements of the principles.)

Harm Principle:
to prevent harm to others [other than X]
private harm: to prevent harm to other individuals
public harm: harm to society in general
Paternalism:
to prevent harm to the the peson (X)
Welfarism:
to benefit others [other than X]
Extreme Paternalism:
to benefit the person (X)
Legal Moralism:
to prevent immoral behavior
Offense Principle:
to prevent offense to others

based in part on: Joel Feinberg, Social Philosophy (Prentice Hall, 1973)


Richard Lee, rlee@uark.edu, last modified: 12 October 2011