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Dworkin’s defense of paternalism

Dworkin’s defense of paternalism. Deciding to take an addicting drug prevents you from being able to make decisions for yourself in a rational manner. So the state is justified in intervening

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Dworkin’s defense of paternalism

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  1. Dworkin’s defense of paternalism • Deciding to take an addicting drug prevents you from being able to make decisions for yourself in a rational manner. So the state is justified in intervening • Refusing a blood transfusion or refusing to put on your seatbelt is acting in a way that goes against your own well being. • Suicide is often chosen in emotionally stressful times.

  2. Brandt on Suicide • Is suicide wrong? Always? Sometimes? • When is a person blameworthy for committing suicide? • A person can do something wrong and yet not be blameworthy. Someone can act on a mistaken belief, or be of unsound mind

  3. Theological arguments against suicide • Committing suicide goes against God’s will (thou shalt not kill) • Committing suicide goes against the specific purposes God may have for us Brandt: Controversial interpretation of commandment and need special reasons to prove that God does not allow human beings to end their lives.

  4. Natural law arguments • Everything naturally loves itself. Killing one’s self goes against this natural self-love. • Kant’s claim that the purpose of self love is to preserve life, not end it. Brandt: This may be usually true, but why suppose that there are not exceptions?

  5. Suicide harms other persons • Aristotle: it is a crime against the state Depriving society of a valuable member But some people are just not that important What about suffering of family members? It is a legitimate consideration but admits of degrees. Does not show suicide always wrong.

  6. Suicide is justified if it is the decision that the person would make given all relevant information, including not just present preferences but also preferences that one would have in the future.

  7. Reasons why suicide is often the wrong choice • People know their immediate desires, but do not know as well the desires they will develop later. • Most suicides are decided in periods of depression, when one’s cognitive ability to weigh the facts is impaired. • People often give undue preference to the immediate future as opposed to the long term.

  8. Suicide is sometimes morally permissible, but we can only know this after sober consideration of the facts. • People have an obligation to aid a person who is suicidal. This is an instance of the general obligation to aid those in distress. • Sometimes the obligation is to aid the person in committing suicide, sometimes to prevent it.

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