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    The harm principle, as Mill formulates it, is agent-relat... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Restrictions on A's freedom requiring A to benefit B may be justified on grounds of preventing harm to B, even if they cannot be justified on grounds of preventing A from harming B.

    The harm principle, as Mill formulates it, is agent-relative: it justifies coercion only when A's conduct is the proximate cause of harm to B.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Agent-relative harm principles respect individual liberty by limiting state intervention to cases of direct causal responsibility.
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    • 2.Proximate causation provides an objective, verifiable standard that prevents arbitrary coercion based on speculative or remote harms.
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    • 3.Holding agents accountable only for direct harms they cause aligns with fundamental intuitions about moral desert and fair punishment.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Many serious harms result from cumulative or distributed causation (pollution, market manipulation), making proximate causation inadequate.
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    • 2.Structural injustices and negligence harm people indirectly; restricting coercion to proximate causes leaves systemic wrongs unaddressed.
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    • 3.Mill himself endorsed paternalism for the incompetent and regulation of dangerous substances, suggesting his principle wasn't purely agent-relative.
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    Rights & Liberty1 linkedJustice & Punishment1 linked

    Related

    Agent-relative harm principles respect individual liberty by limiting state inte...Holding agents accountable only for direct harms they cause aligns with fundamen...Many serious harms result from cumulative or distributed causation (pollution, m...Mill himself endorsed paternalism for the incompetent and regulation of dangerou...
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    Proximate causation provides an objective, verifiable standard that prevents arb...Restrictions on A's freedom requiring A to benefit B may be justified on grounds...Structural injustices and negligence harm people indirectly; restricting coercio...

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    claim
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    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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