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Full Idea
The strongest of all the arguments against the interference of the public with purely personal conduct is that, when it does interfere, the odds are that it interferes wrongly, and in the wrong place.
Gist of Idea
The main argument for freedom is that interference with it is usually misguided
Source
John Stuart Mill (On Liberty [1857], Ch.4)
Book Ref
Mill,John Stuart: 'Utilitarianism (including On Liberty etc)', ed/tr. Warnock,Mary [Fontana 1962], p.214
A Reaction
This is also a well known objection to capital punishment. Generalised, well established, legal interferences are perhaps more likely to get it right than ad hoc decisions about individuals by individual officials.
| 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] |