Writing Resources
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
