Essay Example on On Liberty J S Mill lays out the harm Principle

In On Liberty J S Mill lays out the harm principle which distinguishes between actions that only affect you self regarding and actions which affect others other regarding Whether or not this distinction is justifiable is up for debate In this essay I will examine the fact that many cases fit into both categories the lack of clarity of the actions as well as looking at work from Morley Rees and Wolff on On Liberty in order to determine whether the distinction between the two is justifiable Before looking at self regarding and other regarding actions one must first better understand the harm principle It states that harm can be both physical or psychological but must be more than an inconvenience or dislike no matter how intense In this sense for an action to change from self regarding to other regarding one cannot simply be inconvenienced but must feel some form of harm whether mental or real This creates a clear distinction between the two actions but what annoys some may harm others so it could be said that the distinction lacks clarity 

On the other hand it could be argued that the distinction between self regarding and other regarding actions is unjustified One reason for this is that there are many cases that can be seen as both self regarding and other regarding actions An example of this is the act of getting drunk On the one hand it is simply a self regarding action as you are drinking the alcohol in order to get into a state of inebriation and this affects nobody else However if you become violent as a consequence of being drunk or your actions begin to have an effect on others it becomes an other regarding action This questions the justification between self regarding and other regarding actions because one case can fall into both categories Mill states that no person ought to punished simply for being drunk but a soldier or a policeman should be punished for being drunk on duty Mill On Liberty 138 which shows that the same act can be seen in both categories 

This is backed up by Mill s mention of coercion which states that as soon as any part of a person's conduct affects prejudicially the interests of others society has jurisdiction over it 142 Mill also states that no person is an entirely isolated being 146 which infers that it is almost impossible not to harm others with the action that one takes For example if one abuses his or her finances and loses all their money this not only harms them but also the people who rely on them for support such as their family This again shows that the distinction between self regarding and other regarding actions is not justified as there is confusion about which category an action applies to Also Mill states that harming oneself can affect others but he doesn't say that all self harm should be allowed This shows that the distinction is not justified because Mill himself recognises that self regarding actions can cause harm to others Next one could examine Mill's admission that self regarding acts affects others This suggests that the distinction between the two acts is unjustified He states that the mischief which a person does to himself may seriously affect both through their sympathies and their interests those nearly connected with him and in a minor degree society at large 137 This statement infers that the distinction between self regarding and other regarding actions is not justified as one action can spill into the other regarding category from the self regarding one This point is strengthened by Mill writing that a person's self regarding action which affects him directly may affect others through himself 75