Secularism, Liberalism, and the Human Future
Russell Blackford
University of Newcastle, NSW
Mehlman and Botkin
“We are raftsmen approaching a social and evolutionary maelstrom. Whether we will emerge safely will depend on how well prepared we are, not to mention a great deal of luck.”
Some of the books that I refer to...
A Letter Concerning Toleration (John Locke, orig. pub 1689)
On Liberty (John Stuart Mill, orig. pub. 1859)
Bioethics in a Liberal Society (Max Charlesworth, 1993)
Freedom’s Power (Paul Starr, 2007)
The harm principle (John Stuart Mill)
The idea that society should be reluctant
to restrict the liberty of individuals to act
as they wish with the resources available
to them.
The harm principle (John Stuart Mill)
Even the idea of harm is restricted to
direct, significant, and wrongful harm to
others. In particular, the harm described
must be to secular interests, not to
spiritual ones (e.g. interests in personal
salvation, holiness, purity from sin, or
conformity to the will of a deity).
Thank you!