private morality

A person’s ideals, character, and private conduct, which are not valid governmental concerns if the individual is to be considered sovereign over body and mind and if the need to protect the individual’s physical or moral well-being is insufficient to justify governmental intrusion.

• In his essay On Liberty (1859), John Stuart Mill distinguished between conduct or ideals that affect only the individual from conduct that may do harm to others. Mill argued that governmental intrusion is justified only to prevent harm to others, not to influence a person’s private morality.

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词条贡献者

资深译员Steven，毕业于美国一流的高级翻译学院，专注翻译各种与政府政策有关的法律文件。