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Single Idea 7226

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 3. Welfare provision ]

Full Idea

It is often desirable that beneficial things should be done by individuals, rather than by the government, as a means to their own mental education.

Gist of Idea

Benefits performed by individuals, not by government, help also to educate them

Source

John Stuart Mill (On Liberty [1857], Ch.5)

Book Ref

Mill,John Stuart: 'Utilitarianism (including On Liberty etc)', ed/tr. Warnock,Mary [Fontana 1962], p.243

A Reaction

This raises the important danger, which even those on the political left must acknowledge, of the 'nanny state'. It offers a nicely paternalistic, and even patronising reason for giving people freedom, just as a parent might to a child.

The 25 ideas from 'On Liberty'

20517 Utilitarianism values liberty, but guides us on which ones we should have or not have [Mill, by Wolff,J]
20516 Mill defends freedom as increasing happiness, but maybe it is an intrinsic good [Wolff,J on Mill]
20515 Maximise happiness by an area of strict privacy, and an area of utilitarian interventions [Mill, by Wolff,J]
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]
7215 True freedom is pursuing our own good, while not impeding others [Mill]
7212 Individuals have sovereignty over their own bodies and minds [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]
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]
7227 It is evil to give a government any more power than is necessary [Mill]
7230 Aim for the maximum dissemination of power consistent with efficiency [Mill]
7228 Individuals often do things better than governments [Mill]
7220 Restraint for its own sake is an evil [Mill]
7222 It is a crime for someone with a violent disposition to get drunk [Mill]
7218 Individuals are not accountable for actions which only concern themselves [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]