Assessing and Comparing Harms
Assessing and Comparing Harms
Formulates some “mediating maxims” to guide a legislature in applying the harm principle to difficult cases. Supplemental criteria that restrict the application of the harm principle include the magnitude of the harm committed, the probability of the harm occurring, the relative importance of the harm, and the aggregative nature of the harm. The greater the probability of harm, for example, the less grave the harm need be to justify coercion. In addition to such moral principles, practical reasons and rules of common sense are relevant to the application of the harm principle. Since a limitation on liberty is itself a harm, the state is justified by the harm principle in invading citizens’ interests in liberty only if this action outweighs the greater harm that would be caused by proscribed actions.
Keywords: coercion, harm principle, liberty, mediating maxims, moral principles, practical reasons
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
