A Pluralist Case for the Harm Principle

University of San Diego Law Review, Vol. 54, 2017

20 Pages Posted: 17 Nov 2018

Date Written: 2017

Abstract

This Essay makes a pluralist case for Mill’s Harm Principle in its core ‘negative’ variant, according to which it is wrong to restrain individual freedom for moralist or paternalist reasons. It argues that the best case that can be made for it is based on a broad coalition of partly overlapping reasons, comprising equal respect, moral worth, self-government, experimentalism, and individualism. It then defends the Harm Principle against attempts to discredit it as an incoherent and useless formula.

Keywords: Harm Principle, Stuart Mill, Liberalism

Suggested Citation

Almeida Ribeiro, Gonçalo, A Pluralist Case for the Harm Principle (2017). University of San Diego Law Review, Vol. 54, 2017, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3271058

Gonçalo Almeida Ribeiro (Contact Author)

Católica Global School of Law ( email )

Lisboa
Portugal

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