Quiz 13

Mill, "Social Liberty"

1. Mill's Harm Principle is meant as protection:
a. for pornography.
b. against tyranny of the government.
c. against tyranny of prevailing opinion.
d. against both tyranny of government and prevailing opinion.

2. As applied to laws against an individual's use of drugs, Mill's Harm Principle would:
a. not protect the individual, since drugs cause physical harm.
b. reject them, since it is wrong to interfere with the individual's liberty.
c. depend for its application upon the judgment of the majority.
d. reject them only where children are involved.

3. For Mill, to attempt to suppress an opinion as false is to:
a. violate the principle of utility.
b. violate the Harm Principle.
c. assume one's infallibility.
d. violate the Categorical Imperative.

4. Which of the following are values of utility that Mill does not appeal to in
defending the Harm Principle:
a. truth.
b. encouragement of radical thought or genius.
c. the improvement of opinions.
d. the costs of police enforcement of censorship.

5. In On Liberty, Mill defends the view that:
a. no one ought to interfere with another's liberty.
b. no one ought to interfere with another's liberty, except to protect that person from hurting themselves.
c. no one ought to interfere with another's liberty, except to protect others from being harmed.
d. we each have a right to freedom of expression and thought.

6. For Mill, the value that liberty of thought and expression best protects and
promotes is:
a. happiness.
b. utility.
c. individual rights.
d. truth.

7. Mill claims that his defense of liberty appeals only to:
a. utility.
b. rights.
c. goodness.
d. natural facts.

[Answers: 1. C   2. B   3. C   4. D   5. C   6. D   7. A]

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