more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
When a government of any sort puts a threatening hand on that part of individual life beyond its proper scope, …even if it were the whole nation, except for the man it is harassing, it would be no more legitimate for that.
Gist of Idea
No government, or the whole nation, can control an individual beyond legitimate scope
Source
Ian Dunt (How to be a Liberal [2020]), quoted by Ian Dunt - How to be a Liberal 4
Book Ref
Dunt,Ian: 'How to Be a Liberal' [Canbury Press 2020], p.127
A Reaction
The obvious question is what counts as 'proper scope' - and who gets to define it? If the individual can define that, then criminals can appeal to this principle. The state must be persuaded of it, then asked to stick to it during conflicts.
| 5575 | An obvious idea is a constitution based on maximum mutual freedom for citizens [Kant] |
| 21080 | Actions are right if the maxim respects universal mutual freedoms [Kant] |
| 21055 | Our aim is a constitution which combines maximum freedom with strong restraint [Kant] |
| 21056 | The vitality of business needs maximum freedom (while avoiding harm to others) [Kant] |
| 22797 | In modern states an individual's actions should be their choice [Hegel] |
| 7217 | The main argument for freedom is that interference with it is usually misguided [Mill] |
| 18662 | Liberal freedom is the right to be separate, and ignores the union of man with man [Marx] |
| 23051 | Equality also implies liberty, because equality must be of opportunity as well as possessions [Green,TH] |
| 23869 | In the least evil societies people can think, control community life, and be autonomous [Weil] |
| 18632 | Liberalism tends to give priority to basic liberties [Kymlicka] |
| 23084 | Are egalitarians too coercive, or not egalitarian enough, or lax over morality? [Kekes] |
| 21049 | Liberal freedom was a response to assigned destinies like caste and class [Sandel] |
| 22596 | No government, or the whole nation, can control an individual beyond legitimate scope [Dunt] |