Antithesis to J.S. Mill

[Prince Hamlet]

I need a philosopher whose position is antipodal to that of Mill's in terms of civil liberties.

Mill stood for individual liberty. In essence, Mill argued that the state had no right to restrict one's freedom UNLESS the individual's actions threatened to harm others. If you want to drink 5 gallons of beer a day, go ahead - just don't step foot in a car. If you want to smoke 20 packs a day, go ahead - just don't smoke near anybody else.

Is there a philosopher who argued that the state has every right to intervene if the individual threatens to harm himself?

Thanks!

[Award Winning Boss]

All I know is that John Rawls rejected Utilitarianism like ethics when it came to justice in law. Read "A theory of justice"

At least I think he did anyway

[Prince Hamlet]

I heard about Rawls, and here is my understanding of Rawls:

1) Our decisions are truly just when we make them under a "Veil of Ignorance" - we don't know anything about ourselves or others.

2) Justice should be distributive.

Since you perhaps have a better understanding of Rawls than I do, are the above points correct? I'll make sure to check out his epochal work as well.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Prince Hamlet

[Award Winning Boss]

I heard about Rawls, and here is my understanding of Rawls:

1) Our decisions are truly just when we make them under a "Veil of Ignorance" - we don't know anything about ourselves or others.

2) Justice should be distributive.

Since you perhaps have a better understanding of Rawls than I do, are the above points correct? I'll make sure to check out his epochal work as well.

His book is quite long. If you do read it even if it's just the first chapter it'd be helpful.

What I can remember (I may be wrong) is that justice = fairness so a utilitarian principle would lead to the exploitation of those who aren't the majority which isn't fairness.

You can read some of Nozick's work on the matter too because he opposes that and says that private property rights should be regarded as a liberty. I haven't read the whole book of either nozick or rawls but the concepts are interesting.