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Single Idea 7215
[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 5. Freedom of lifestyle
]
Full Idea
The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.
Gist of Idea
True freedom is pursuing our own good, while not impeding others
Source
John Stuart Mill (On Liberty [1857], Ch.1)
Book Ref
Mill,John Stuart: 'Utilitarianism (including On Liberty etc)', ed/tr. Warnock,Mary [Fontana 1962], p.138
A Reaction
This principle will probably lead up a Prisoner's Dilemma cul-de-sac. The only freedom which deserves the name is the collective agreed freedom of a whole community to live well, when citizens volunteer to restrict their individual freedoms.
The
108 ideas
from John Stuart Mill
7076
|
Mill wondered if he would be happy if all his aims were realised, and answered no
[Mill, by Critchley]
|
20515
|
Maximise happiness by an area of strict privacy, and an area of utilitarian interventions
[Mill, by Wolff,J]
|
20516
|
Mill defends freedom as increasing happiness, but maybe it is an intrinsic good
[Wolff,J on Mill]
|
20517
|
Utilitarianism values liberty, but guides us on which ones we should have or not have
[Mill, by Wolff,J]
|
7212
|
Individuals have sovereignty over their own bodies and minds
[Mill]
|
7215
|
True freedom is pursuing our own good, while not impeding others
[Mill]
|
7211
|
Prevention of harm to others is the only justification for exercising power over people
[Mill]
|
7213
|
Liberty arises at the point where people can freely and equally discuss things
[Mill]
|
7214
|
Ethics rests on utility, which is the permanent progressive interests of people
[Mill]
|
7210
|
The will of the people is that of the largest or most active part of the people
[Mill]
|
7216
|
The ethics of the Gospel has been supplemented by barbarous Old Testament values
[Mill]
|
7217
|
The main argument for freedom is that interference with it is usually misguided
[Mill]
|
7220
|
Restraint for its own sake is an evil
[Mill]
|
7218
|
Individuals are not accountable for actions which only concern themselves
[Mill]
|
7230
|
Aim for the maximum dissemination of power consistent with efficiency
[Mill]
|
7222
|
It is a crime for someone with a violent disposition to get drunk
[Mill]
|
7221
|
Blocking entry to an unsafe bridge does not infringe liberty, since no one wants unsafe bridges
[Mill]
|
7223
|
Pimping and running a gambling-house are on the border between toleration and restraint
[Mill]
|
7219
|
Society can punish actions which it believes to be prejudicial to others
[Mill]
|
7226
|
Benefits performed by individuals, not by government, help also to educate them
[Mill]
|
7224
|
We need individual opinions and conduct, and State education is a means to prevent that
[Mill]
|
7225
|
It is a crime to create a being who lacks the ordinary chances of a desirable existence
[Mill]
|
7231
|
The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it
[Mill]
|
7229
|
People who transact their own business will also have the initiative to control their government
[Mill]
|
7228
|
Individuals often do things better than governments
[Mill]
|
7227
|
It is evil to give a government any more power than is necessary
[Mill]
|
20508
|
How people vote should be on public record, so they can be held accountable
[Mill, by Wolff,J]
|
20504
|
People can only participate in decisions in small communities, so representatives are needed
[Mill]
|
20505
|
Direct democracy is inexperience judging experience, and ignorance judging knowledge
[Mill]
|
20507
|
Voting is a strict duty, like jury service, and must only be aimed at the public good
[Mill]
|
8345
|
A cause is the total of all the conditions which inevitably produce the result
[Mill]
|
10391
|
Causes and conditions are not distinct, because we select capriciously from among them
[Mill]
|
5201
|
Mill says logic and maths is induction based on a very large number of instances
[Mill, by Ayer]
|
9360
|
If two black and two white objects in practice produced five, what colour is the fifth one?
[Lewis,CI on Mill]
|
4944
|
Mill says names have denotation but not connotation
[Mill, by Kripke]
|
7762
|
Proper names are just labels for persons or objects, and the meaning is the object
[Mill, by Lycan]
|
12411
|
Mill is too imprecise, and is restricted to simple arithmetic
[Kitcher on Mill]
|
5656
|
Empirical theories of arithmetic ignore zero, limit our maths, and need probability to get started
[Frege on Mill]
|
8625
|
What physical facts could underlie 0 or 1, or very large numbers?
[Frege on Mill]
|
17091
|
Explanation is fitting of facts into ever more general patterns of regularity
[Mill, by Ruben]
|
17086
|
Surprisingly, empiricists before Mill ignore explanation, which seems to transcend experience
[Mill, by Ruben]
|
17895
|
Combining two distinct assertions does not necessarily lead to a single 'complex proposition'
[Mill]
|
11156
|
The essence is that without which a thing can neither be, nor be conceived to be
[Mill]
|
9888
|
Mill mistakes particular applications as integral to arithmetic, instead of general patterns
[Dummett on Mill]
|
9796
|
Things possess the properties of numbers, as quantity, and as countable parts
[Mill]
|
9794
|
There are no such things as numbers in the abstract
[Mill]
|
9795
|
Numbers have generalised application to entities (such as bodies or sounds)
[Mill]
|
9798
|
Different parcels made from three pebbles produce different actual sensations
[Mill]
|
9797
|
'2 pebbles and 1 pebble' and '3 pebbles' name the same aggregation, but different facts
[Mill]
|
9799
|
3=2+1 presupposes collections of objects ('Threes'), which may be divided thus
[Mill]
|
9801
|
Numbers must be assumed to have identical units, as horses are equalised in 'horse-power'
[Mill]
|
9800
|
Arithmetic is based on definitions, and Sums of equals are equal, and Differences of equals are equal
[Mill]
|
16845
|
The whole theory of induction rests on causes
[Mill]
|
14547
|
The strict cause is the total positive and negative conditions which ensure the consequent
[Mill]
|
14545
|
A cause is an antecedent which invariably and unconditionally leads to a phenomenon
[Mill]
|
12190
|
Necessity is what will be, despite any alternative suppositions whatever
[Mill]
|
16805
|
Causal inference is by spotting either Agreements or Differences
[Mill, by Lipton]
|
16835
|
The Methods of Difference and of Agreement are forms of inference to the best explanation
[Mill, by Lipton]
|
16843
|
Mill's methods (Difference,Agreement,Residues,Concomitance,Hypothesis) don't nail induction
[Mill, by Lipton]
|
9806
|
Whatever is made up of parts is made up of parts of those parts
[Mill]
|
9803
|
We can't easily distinguish 102 horses from 103, but we could arrange them to make it obvious
[Mill]
|
9802
|
Numbers denote physical properties of physical phenomena
[Mill]
|
9804
|
Arithmetical results give a mode of formation of a given number
[Mill]
|
9805
|
12 is the cube of 1728 means pebbles can be aggregated a certain way
[Mill]
|
9417
|
What are the fewest propositions from which all natural uniformities could be inferred?
[Mill]
|
8377
|
Causation is just invariability of succession between every natural fact and a preceding fact
[Mill]
|
16860
|
Inductive generalisation is more reliable than one of its instances; they can't all be wrong
[Mill]
|
16859
|
Most perception is one-tenth observation and nine-tenths inference
[Mill]
|
9080
|
General conceptions are a necessary preliminary to Induction
[Mill]
|
9078
|
The study of the nature of Abstract Ideas does not belong to logic, but to a different science
[Mill]
|
9079
|
We can focus our minds on what is common to a whole class, neglecting other aspects
[Mill]
|
9081
|
We don't recognise comparisons by something in our minds; the concepts result from the comparisons
[Mill]
|
9082
|
Clear concepts result from good observation, extensive experience, and accurate memory
[Mill]
|
9624
|
Numbers are a very general property of objects
[Mill, by Brown,JR]
|
4773
|
Mill's regularity theory of causation is based on an effect preceded by a conjunction of causes
[Mill, by Psillos]
|
8741
|
Numbers must be of something; they don't exist as abstractions
[Mill]
|
4775
|
In Mill's 'Method of Agreement' cause is the common factor in a range of different cases
[Mill, by Psillos]
|
4776
|
In Mill's 'Method of Difference' the cause is what stops the effect when it is removed
[Mill, by Psillos]
|
10427
|
All names are names of something, real or imaginary
[Mill]
|
22623
|
Necessity can only mean what must be, without conditions of any kind
[Mill]
|
8742
|
The only axioms needed are for equality, addition, and successive numbers
[Mill, by Shapiro]
|
21335
|
Belief that an afterlife is required for justice is an admission that this life is very unjust
[Mill]
|
21329
|
Nature dispenses cruelty with no concern for either mercy or justice
[Mill]
|
21328
|
Killing is a human crime, but nature kills everyone, and often with great tortures
[Mill]
|
21331
|
Hurricanes, locusts, floods and blight can starve a million people to death
[Mill]
|
21330
|
Nature makes childbirth a miserable experience, often leading to the death of the mother
[Mill]
|
21332
|
We don't get a love of 'order' from nature - which is thoroughly chaotic
[Mill]
|
21333
|
Evil comes from good just as often as good comes from evil
[Mill]
|
21334
|
No necessity ties an omnipotent Creator, so he evidently wills human misery
[Mill]
|
6697
|
Moral rules protecting human welfare are more vital than local maxims
[Mill]
|
7202
|
The English believe in the task of annihilating evil for the victory of good
[Nietzsche on Mill]
|
3763
|
Ultimate goods such as pleasure can never be proved to be good
[Mill]
|
3765
|
Only pleasure and freedom from pain are desirable as ends
[Mill]
|
5935
|
Mill's qualities of pleasure is an admission that there are other good states of mind than pleasure
[Ross on Mill]
|
3764
|
Actions are right if they promote pleasure, wrong if they promote pain
[Mill]
|
3767
|
Motive shows the worth of the agent, but not of the action
[Mill]
|
3766
|
Better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied
[Mill]
|
3768
|
Orthodox morality is the only one which feels obligatory
[Mill]
|
3769
|
With early training, any absurdity or evil may be given the power of conscience
[Mill]
|
3771
|
Virtues only have value because they achieve some further end
[Mill]
|
3770
|
General happiness is only desirable because individuals desire their own happiness
[Mill]
|
3772
|
The will, in the beginning, is entirely produced by desire
[Mill]
|
3775
|
A right is a valid claim to society's protection
[Mill]
|
3774
|
Rights are a matter of justice, not of benevolence
[Mill]
|
3773
|
No individual has the right to receive our benevolence
[Mill]
|
3776
|
Utilitarianism only works if everybody has a totally equal right to happiness
[Mill]
|
3583
|
External objects are permanent possibilities of sensation
[Mill]
|
3537
|
I judge others' feeling by analogy with my body and behaviour
[Mill]
|