Harm, Liberty, and Contagious Diseases in John Stuart Mill’s Philosophy Cover Image

Šteta, sloboda i zarazne bolesti u filozofiji Johna Stuarta Milla
Harm, Liberty, and Contagious Diseases in John Stuart Mill’s Philosophy

Author(s): Ivan Cerovac
Subject(s): Political Philosophy, Social Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Hrvatsko Filozofsko Društvo
Keywords: democracy; expertism; pandemic; COVID-19; harm principle;

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyses John Stuart Mill’s harm principle and its proper application in the process of drafting and evaluating laws, political decisions, and measures used to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. By interpreting Mill as an epistemic democrat and an epistemic liberal, the paper focuses on Mill’s thoughts regarding the decision-making procedures appropriate for legislation in a pandemic. Additionally, it discusses the proper division of epistemic and political labor, one of the most important mechanisms Mill uses to filter the public will, and demonstrates how Mill’s arguments can help us balance between epistemic and moral virtues, i.e. between democratic and expert-oriented decision-making.

  • Issue Year: 43/2023
  • Issue No: 01/169
  • Page Range: 117-129
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Croatian
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