Week 5: State paternalism

Essay question

Should the state restrict people’s freedom for their own good?

Key readings

• Gerald Dworkin, Paternalism, The Monist, vol. 56, no. 1 (January, 1972), pp. 64-84.
• Patrick Devlin, The Enforcement of Morals, London: Oxford University Press, 1965.
• H. L. A. Hart, Law, Liberty, and Morality, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1963.

Further reading

• C. L. Ten, Paternalism and morality, Ratio, vol. 13, no. 1 (1971), pp. 55-66.
• Joel Feinberg, Legal paternalism, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, vol. 1, no. 1 (September, 1971), pp. 105-124.
• Richard Arneson, Mill versus paternalism, Ethics, vol. 90, no. 4 (July, 1980), pp. 470-489.
• Douglas Husak, Paternalism and autonomy, Philosophy and Public Affairs, vol. 10, no. 1 (Winter, 1981), pp. 27-46.
• Donald Van De Veer, Paternalistic Intervention: The Moral Bounds of Benevolence, Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press. 1986.

Exam questions

• Would it be wrong for citizens to disobey paternalistic laws?
• Is Mill right to argue against state paternalism?