Harm is a moral and legal concept.
Bernard Gert construes harms as any of the following:
- pain
- death
- disability
- loss of ability or freedom
- loss of pleasure
Joel Feinberg gives an account of harms as setbacks to interests. He distinguishes welfare interests from ulterior interests. Hence on his view there are two kinds of harms.
Welfare interests are
- interests in the continuance for a foreseeable interval of one's life, and the interests in one's own physical health and vigor, the integrity and normal functioning of one's body, the absence of absorbing pain and suffering or grotesque disfigurement, minimal intellectual acuity, emotional stability, the absence of groundless anxieties and resentments, the capacity to engage normally in social intercourse and to enjoy and maintain friendships, at least minimal income and financial security, a tolerable social and physical environment, and a certain amount of freedom from interference and coercion.
Ulterior interests are "a person's more ultimate goals and aspirations," such as "producing good novels or works of art, solving a crucial scientific problem, achieving high political office, successfully raising a family . . .".
Read more about Harm: Sources
Other articles related to "harm":
... " right"), such that many iniuriae involve physical harm and many actions inflicting physical harm constitute iniuria but neither set is a subset of the other ... For example, physical harm inflicted upon an aggressor by an innocent party acting in self-defense does not constitute iniuria unless the legal system in question ... even criminal court even though they inflict no physical harm upon the person against whom they are directed ...
... good friend and former Naval Academy classmate of Harm, and a great rival in the courts ... Sturgis and Harm play hoops and fix cars together ... that Mac let it slip to him "That she was in love with him," (him meaning Harm) ...
... Safe From Harm (Original)" – 518 "Safe From Harm (7" Version)" – 426 "Safe From Harm (12" Version)" – 655 "Safe From Harm (Perfecto Mix)" – 813 "Safe From Harm (Just A Groove Dub)" – 315 "Saf ...
... The ADC aims to control the harm caused by people and organisations that engage in or encourage discriminatory behaviour in our society ... important, the ADC works to promote those democratic and humane values that serve to prevent such harm ... The ADC's efforts at harm prevention and control involve four major kinds of activity which include gathering relevant information, supporting victims of antisemitism and discrimination ...
... Limitations to freedom of speech may follow the "harm principle" or the "offense principle", for example in the case of pornography, or hate speech ... However, Mill also introduced what is known as the harm principle, in placing the following limitation on free expression "the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over ... preventing serious offense (as opposed to injury or harm) to persons other than the actor, and that it is probably a necessary means to that end." Hence Feinberg ...
Famous quotes containing the word harm:
“He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no harm shall touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 5:19-23.
“If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could never harm us.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“What harm cause not those huge draughts or pictures which wanton youth with chalk or coals draw in each passage, wall or stairs of our great houses, whence a cruel contempt of our natural store is bred in them?”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)