Harm

Harm is a condition or outcome that reduces the well-being, safety, rights, or interests of individuals, groups, or ecosystems. It can take many forms, including physical injury, psychological distress, social disadvantage, economic loss, or environmental damage. Harm may result from actions, omissions, or complex social and biological processes, and it can be intentional, negligent, or accidental. It also encompasses ongoing harms that accumulate over time, such as chronic exposure to pollutants or systemic discrimination, as well as immediate harms from a single event.

Common types of harm include physical harm (injury or disability), psychological harm (trauma, anxiety, depression), social harm (stigma, exclusion, discrimination), economic harm (loss of income, debt), and environmental harm (pollution, habitat destruction). The causes are varied: wrongdoing, negligence, policy decisions, uneven power dynamics, and risk-generating activities with insufficient safeguards.

Assessing harm involves considering its severity, duration, reversibility, and distribution across people or communities. In ethics and law, harm is a central consideration when judging the acceptability of actions or policies. The harm principle, historically associated with utilitarian and liberal thought, argues that coercive interference is warranted only to prevent greater or imminent harm. Consent, autonomy, and proportionality are often invoked to limit or justify interventions, especially in medicine and law. In medical contexts, a harm-benefit analysis seeks to maximize net good and minimize avoidable injury, including iatrogenic harm from treatments.

Policy and practice aim to prevent or reduce harm through risk assessment, regulation, harm reduction, and public education. Different cultures may differ in what is considered harmful, highlighting the role of norms and values in harm assessment. Law typically seeks to deter harm through torts, criminal statutes, and regulatory standards.