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