150th anniversary of death of #JSMill whose conception of freedom was ascendant in 20th century, is not safe in 21st C as @DanielJHannan thoughfully considers. One reason IMO is ever-expanding definition of HARM to include subjective/psychological harms https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/06/blasphemy-codes-still-with-us-if-js-mill-were-alive-today/

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Fox_Claire/status/1655195709807665153

@henryfarrell
I remember #JSMill claiming that the franchise should be universal, but that the more highly-educated should have votes that count for more. Without wishing to imply anything about present interlocutors, my experience of professors does not make me think they would be especially effective ruling as philosopher-kings; no, not even the economists.

@ERBeckman

I see that Pope Francis has recently been in the news, and that he's made the important distinction between sin and crime. That is, he claims that there are acts that are immoral, but which the state should not punish.

I'm familiar with the #liberal concept of the "harm principle", but I've never really found it satisfying. What other philosophical approaches are there for deciding when a sin should not be a crime?

#JSMill #HarmPrinciple #crime #ethics
#PopeFrancis

@withaveeay @fitheach @bob Not everyone on the Fediverse is left-leaning, and that's fine. In fact, it's healthy to read people you disagree with [0]; starting arguments is of limited utility however.

[0] #JSMill : “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.”

@freakazoid
My last post for a while:

There is definitely a feedback loop between system of government and culture. However, with a better system or a worse, a people convinced of the importance of following rules, and letting people generally do as they wish so long as others are not harmed will tend to have a reasonable democracy regardless of the #ElectoralSystem .

If you want something to read, *Considerations on Representative Government* by #JSMill is thought-provoking.

> According to "Mill, the #StationaryState was.. inevitable, necessary and desirable:. mankind had to learn how to reduce its size and its level of consumption within the boundaries set by nature.. desirable, as it would ease the introduction of public income redistribution schemes, create more equality.. the human spirit would be liberated to the benefit of more elevated social and cultural activities, 'the graces of life'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steady-state_economy#John_Stuart_Mill's_concept
#SteadyStateEconomy #JSMill

There is a great old book of essay #TowardsLiberalEducation that got started in 1945 I think. The first editions ended with #LewisMumford's The #BasisOfRenewal a chapter from his book The #ConditionOfMan. (I wonder if some of the 60s activism was set up by good reading like this from the 40's on?) Mumford says how #JSMill's #SteadyState economy should have used terms like #DynamiEquilibrium instead: like for beaches and living organisms I guess. #SteadyStateEconomy .

@whiskeysailor Not necessarily. #JSMill argued that literacy *and* numeracy tests should be required in order to vote. By such a measure, he would have disqualified many ordinary Englishmen (and Englishwomen, if another of his recommendations had been implemented).

#VotingRights

@hhardy01 There can be free speech issues which are not about government censorship; as I recall, that was one of the major points of *On Liberty*. If our society is becoming increasingly censorious, indiscriminately condemning the benign with the noxious, that's something to worry about, no?

Changing subject, you've said this is about dropping poorly selling books. Do you have evidence of that? I do remember *Mulberry Street* from my childhood, so I assumed it sold.

#JSMill