CCEA A-Level Government and Politics 4830
The Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Executive Committee
The Northern Ireland Political Parties
The UK Parliament
The UK Executive
Option: The British JudiciaryJudiciary
Option: Pressure Groups in the UKPressure groups
USA Option: The Legislative BranchUSA
USA Option: The Executive BranchUSA
USA Option: Comparative Government and PoliticsUSA
Ireland Option: The Legislative BranchIreland
Ireland Option: The Executive BranchIreland
Ireland Option: Comparative Government and PoliticsIreland
Political Power: The Exercise of Political PowerPolitical Power
Political Power: Theories of Political PowerPolitical Power
Political Ideas: Mill, on LibertyPolitical Ideas
Political Ideas: Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FrancePolitical Ideas
Political Ideas: Marx and Engels, the Communist ManifestoPolitical Ideas
Political Ideas: LiberalismPolitical Ideas
Political Ideas: ConservatismPolitical Ideas
Political Ideas: SocialismPolitical Ideas
Political Ideas: Mill, on Liberty
Self-regarding and other-regarding conduct
- 3 things to know
- A2 Unit 2
Overview
Self-regarding conduct, other-regarding conduct and consequences Mill accepts may fall on self-regarding faults.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Explain the doctrine of social rights that Mill attacks.
Define self-regarding conduct.
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Define self-regarding conduct.
Model answer
Self-regarding conduct is action whose consequences fall on the agent alone, or on others only with their free and informed consent. Mill places such conduct wholly outside the authority of society.
- 2
Define other-regarding conduct.
Model answer
Other-regarding conduct is action that affects the interests of people who have not consented to bear its effects. Society may legitimately regulate such conduct where it causes harm.
- 3
Why is the distinction essential to Mill's whole argument?
Model answer
The distinction supplies the boundary line the harm principle draws, marking off a protected sphere of individual sovereignty from the sphere society may govern. Without it the principle would have no application.
- 4
State the consequences Mill accepts may fall on self-regarding faults.
Model answer
Mill accepts that others may avoid a person, caution their friends against him, and give preference to others in matters that are their own concern. Such consequences are the natural results of the conduct itself rather than punishments deliberately inflicted.
- 5
How does Mill distinguish those natural consequences from punishment?
Model answer
Punishment is inflicted deliberately by law or by organised social pressure with the intention of making the person suffer for his choice. Simply choosing not to associate with someone exercises the other person's own liberty and is therefore legitimate.
- 6
Give three faults Mill classifies as self-regarding.
Model answer
Mill classifies rashness, obstinacy and self-conceit as self-regarding faults, along with intemperance and the inability to live within moderate means. Such faults make a person a proper object of distaste but not of punishment.
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