Principle, Pragmatism, and Piecework in On Liberty
In a well-known passage in chapter V of On Liberty , J. S. Mill notes that while economic competition is generally socially beneficial and should be permitted, this “Free Trade” doctrine does not follow from the liberty or harm principle because “trade is a social act.” In a largely overlooked passa...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Utilitas 2023-12, Vol.35 (4), p.312-319 |
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Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
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Online-Zugang: | Volltext |
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Zusammenfassung: | In a well-known passage in chapter V of
On Liberty
, J. S. Mill notes that while economic competition is generally socially beneficial and should be permitted, this “Free Trade” doctrine does not follow from the liberty or harm principle because “trade is a social act.” In a largely overlooked passage in chapter IV of the same essay, however, Mill contends that for society to coercively prohibit the practice of piecework – paying workers by the unit rather than by the hour or day – does violate this principle. In this short note, I demonstrate that Mill's reasoning in these two passages is contradictory. |
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ISSN: | 0953-8208 1741-6183 |
DOI: | 10.1017/S0953820823000158 |