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Coercive paternalism and back-door perfectionism.
Journal of Medical Ethics
|December 17, 2013
Summary
This response argues that coercive paternalism, while distinct from perfectionism, may still impose an alien weighting of personal values. Careful consideration is needed to avoid misclassifying health-risk choices as cognitive errors.
Area of Science:
- Moral Philosophy
- Political Philosophy
- Bioethics
Background:
- Sarah Conly's "Against Autonomy" proposes "coercive paternalism" as a policy approach.
- This approach involves state intervention for individual well-being, distinct from traditional perfectionism.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically analyze the philosophical underpinnings of coercive paternalism.
- To evaluate whether coercive paternalism inadvertently adopts perfectionist characteristics.
- To examine the conditions under which coercive paternalism might be justified, particularly concerning health-related behaviors.
Main Methods:
- Philosophical argumentation and conceptual analysis.
- Critique of Sarah Conly's "coercive paternalism" thesis.
- Exploration of the relationship between value weighting, cognitive error, and autonomy.
Main Results:
- Coercive paternalism, despite Conly's distinctions, may impose an "alien weighting" of an individual's values, aligning it with perfectionism in spirit.
- Coercive paternalism could be justifiable for interventions targeting health-threatening actions stemming from cognitive errors.
- A significant risk exists in broadly defining "cognitive error" to encompass any health-compromising choices, potentially infringing on autonomy.
Conclusions:
- Coercive paternalism shares perfectionist tendencies by potentially altering the subjective weighting of personal values.
- While potentially justifiable for clear cognitive errors impacting health, its application requires stringent definition to avoid overreach.
- Defining "cognitive error" too broadly risks pathologizing autonomous choices that involve health risks, undermining individual agency.
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