ABSTRACT
My freedom to swing my fist ends where your face begins. That, in essence, is the message of Mill’s On Liberty. The only ground for preventing me from doing what I want to do, or forcing me to do something against my will, is that someone else would be harmed by my actions. My private life is my business, and as long as I don’t actually harm anyone else by what I do, then it is not for the state or society to interfere. Anyone who has reached adulthood and is capable of making informed decisions should be free to pursue their version of the good life without any interference. Even if I harm myself through my actions, this isn’t sufficient grounds for state intervention. I can, for example, decide to neglect my physical health and degenerate into a couch potato, and should be free to do this. Paternalism, that is, controlling what people do on the grounds that you know better than they do what is good for them, is only justified towards children and those who, because of mental illness, are incapable of making responsible decisions for themselves. Mill also, more controversially, believes that paternalism is justified towards ‘uncivilised’ peoples who are incapable of judging what is best for them. The rest of us, however, should be given a free rein because that’s the best way of increasing the overall level of happiness in the world.
