activity which cause harm to others. This is Mill’s version of such
a principle:The sole end for which mankind is warranted, individually or
collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of
their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which
power can rightfully be exercised over any member of a civilised
community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.^28Note finally, that as a good utilitarian, Mill believes he has estab-
lished a necessary condition on legitimate interference. Whilst the
case for the prevention of harm to others must always be made
good if interference is to be judged legitimate, the fact that such a
case can be made does not of itself justify interference. There is a
simple reason for this. Interference carries its own costs. If the
only way the prospective harm could be prevented would be to
authorize a massive extension of police powers, for instance, the
costs of this extension might well exceed the benefits promised by
the prevention of harm.
This is the utilitarian case for liberty at its strongest. We shall
return to the discussion of liberty in the next chapter.
Rights
The utilitarian defence of rights is obviously closely linked to the
utilitarian defence of liberty. Conceptual analysis is required, to
link as well as to distinguish claims of liberty from claims of right,
but at first sight the right to free speech is at no great conceptual
distance from the ideal of freedom of speech – and the same goes
for other characteristic liberal freedoms. What talk of rights sig-
nifies for many thinkers is a distinctive mode of justification for
freedom, a mode of justification which is to be sharply contrasted
with the use of arguments from utility. I shall take up these ques-
tions in appropriate detail later. For the moment I am content to
signal the leading elements of the utilitarian case for rights. And
once again, John Stuart Mill provides as good a starting point as
any.
We cannot complain that Mill does not attempt an analysis of
UTILITARIANISM