Abstract

J. S. Mill’s harm principle rules out, among other things, the criminalization of purely self-regarding conduct. I argue that Aristotle’s ideas, especially his claims about the interpersonal nature of justice and the importance of the “common good,” provide support for this antipaternalistic principle. I consider whether Aristotelians who are also theists can defend paternalistic and moralistic laws on the grounds that private wrongdoing is an injustice against God. I conclude that they cannot. Finally, I argue that antipaternalists have good reasons to reject individualism about the common good.