Please read Robert Goodin ‘Permissable Paternalism: Saving Smokers from Themselv

Question

Please read Robert Goodin ‘Permissable Paternalism: Saving Smokers from Themselves.’ Answer the following questions.  The sum of your answers must be at least one-page in length (12font, double space, times new roman, normal intention).

1. What should the scope of paternalism be according to Goodin?

2. When should public officials refrain from paternalistic interference according to Goodin?  

3. What are some of the public policies Goodin thinks might be justified in the light of his considerations about the interests and preferences of smokers?

Explanation / Answer

1. What should the scope of paternalism be according to Goodin?

In the case for paternalism, it is the belief or assumption that public officials might better respect your own preferences better than you would have done through your own actions. In other words, “public officials are engaged in evaluating your (surface) preferences, judging them according to some standard of your own (deeper) preferences.” Goodin believes that the only time public officials should refrain from paternalistic interference is when they are convinced that you are acting on these 4 types of preferences: relevant preferences, settled preferences, preferred preferences, and your own preferences. Although Goodin claims that these four preferences are a reason for public officials to refrain from interfering, in each of the following cases presented he gives reason why paternalism would still be justified.

Goodin presents a scenario where a teenager named Rose begins to smoke at age 16 due to films she had seen where smoking was portrayed as “cool, glamorous, and grown-up.” The girl testifies before a judge that she began smoking Chesterfields primarily because of advertising of “pretty girls and movie stars.” She attempted to quit smoking while she was pregnant, but even then would sneak cigarettes. In 1955, Rose then switched her brand to L&M’s believing the advertising that the filter would trap anything that was bad in the cigarette. Relying on advertisement again, Rose eventually switched to Virginia Slims. In time, Rose developed a smoker’s cough, and eventually developed lung cancer. Several attempts to quit were failed and ultimately her lung was removed. Even after promising her husband and doctors she would quit, Rose was addicted and was not able to successfully stop smoking until she was diagnosed as fatally ill.

2. When should public officials refrain from paternalistic interference according to Goodin?  

relation to public policy, then, paternalism refers to the interference of a government or state with a person without their consent and defended or motivated by a claim that the person interfered with will be better off or protected from harm. Paternalist policies seek to advance people’s (perceived) interests and welfare at some cost to their liberty and freedom of action (autonomy and freedom).

The interference may compel a person to either undertake or refrain from particular activities that affect them. For example, in the first instance, a government or state may require people to save for their future retirement through compulsory superannuation contributions. In the second instance, a government or state may impose a significant rate of excise on tobacco and thereby encourage people to either quit or not take up smoking.

A fourth criterion for categorizing an action as paternalist may also be identified. For an action to be paternalistic, it must be something more than a government action to correct what economists refer to as market failure in the form of inadequate or imperfect information.

3. What are some of the public policies Goodin thinks might be justified in the light of his considerations about the interests and preferences of smokers?  

The public policies Goodin thinks might be justified in the light of his considerations about the interests and preferences of smokers goes beyond actions in which the state responds to market failures of imperfect information through the relatively non-coercive means of information provision. In such cases the state is simply fulfilling its responsibility to ensure that citizens are informed about matters that concern them. While not all citizens may want or need the information, as a matter of practicality (rather than paternalism) the information is provided to the entire group or population, rather than to specific individuals or groups. The provision of such information cannot be said to overrule an individual’s preference in any meaningful sense. Therefore, the definition of paternalism employed in this paper emphasises failures in reasoning over information failures

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse P
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.