John Stuart Mill's Definition Of Harm

1. VAGUENESS. In other words what exactly does Mill mean when he uses the word Harm?

It's notable that no definition of 'Harm' is to be found in, On Liberty, granted Mill gives us some exemptions, but no more than that and accordingly Mill's use of the word 'Harm' is often considered imprecise. It's this very lack preciseness (vagueness) that prompts us to wonder if there could be a point at which acts of offence become acts of Harm. Without an adequate definition of Harm it becomes difficult to derive to a meaningful definition of Offence and without that judgments of rightness or wrongness are in danger of becoming blurred.

In a book by the philosopher Joel Feinberg entitled, Offence to Others, he discusses a thought experiment whereby the reader is assumed to be a passenger on a crowded bus. It's possible to leave the bus of course, but that would be inconvenient and there's not another seat to move to and there's also no prospect of leaving one's seat to stand. Feinberg relates a set of examples, each more offensive than its
Suppose someone is running, naked, along a street that could be interpreted by some onlookers as an Offensive Act, it might even be considered a Harmful Act towards children. In a similarly vein it may be that someone could find the idea of a homosexual relationship, even if behind closed doors, more offensive than an intimate heterosexual liaison which takes place in public. So, just as before, it seems that some things are judged offensive if conducted in public but may well be condoned in private. On Liberty makes it clear that in order to tolerate what Mill calls 'experiments in living', the toleration of some things, in private, is necessary. For example, some things which are objectionable to this generation may well be acceptable to the next. To him experimentation is a necessary attribute to drive society