Paternalism
| Abstract | "Paternalism" comes from the Latin pater, meaning to act like a father, or to treat another person like a child. ("Parentalism" is a gender-neutral anagram of "paternalism".) In modern philosophy and jurisprudence, it is to act for the good of another person without that person's consent, as parents do for children. It is controversial because its end is benevolent, and its means coercive. Paternalists advance people's interests (such as life, health, or safety) at the expense of their liberty. In this, paternalists suppose that they can make wiser decisions than the people for whom they act. Sometimes this is based on presumptions about their own wisdom or the foolishness of other people, and can be dismissed as presumptuous. But sometimes it is not. It can be based on relatively good knowledge, as in the case of paternalism over young children or incompetent adults. Sometimes the role of paternalist is thrust upon the unwilling, as when we find ourselves the custodian and proxy for an unconscious or severely retarded relative. Paternalism is a temptation in every arena of life where people hold power over others: in childrearing, education, therapy, and medicine. But it is perhaps nowhere as divisive as in criminal law. Whenever the state acts to protect people from themselves, it seeks their good; but by doing so through criminal law, it does so coercively, often against their will. | |||||||||
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Similar books and articlesKalle Grill (2011). Paternalism. In Ruth Chadwick (ed.), Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. Academic Press.
Simon Clarke (2002). A Definition of Paternalism. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 5 (1):81-91.
Kalle Grill (2010). Anti-Paternalism and Invalidation of Reasons. Public Reason 2 (2):3-20.
Jonathan Schonsheck (1991). Deconstructing Community Self-Paternalism. Law and Philosophy 10 (1):29 - 49.
Daniel Groll (2012). Paternalism, Respect, and the Will. Ethics 122 (4):692-720.
Michael S. Merry (2007). The Well-Being of Children, the Limits of Paternalism, and the State: Can Disparate Interests Be Reconciled? Ethics and Education 2 (1):39-59.
Marion Smiley (1989). Paternalism and Democracy. Journal of Value Inquiry 23 (4):299-318.
John H. Kultgen (1995). Autonomy and Intervention: Parentalism in the Caring Life. Oxford University Press.
William Glod (2013). Against Two Modest Conceptions of Hard Paternalism. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 16 (2):409-422.
Kalle Grill (2007). The Normative Core of Paternalism. Res Publica 13 (4).
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