CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2012
| Author | Koenig, Leela |
|---|---|
| Title | Exploring Ways to Justify Paternalism |
| Summary | This thesis argues for a distinction between soft and hard paternalism based on a version of paternalism which has as its main characteristic that it is motivated by the opinion that the relevant individual is not able to make the right decisions on her own. Given that this judgment and the subsequent intervention violate the autonomy of the individual, and equate her with the status of a child, I argue that the only way in which the intervention is justified is if it takes a certain type of soft approach. In order for an approach to be soft, it must a) operate within the frame of options the paternalizee is likely to consent to and b) aim to restore the mental capacity, which caused the intervention in the first place, to a level in which the paternalizee can express a valid form of ex-post consent. A hard approach is only possible if the paternalizer has ruled out the possibility for a soft approach. I differentiate between four ways in which a paternalizer can consider the paternalizee as unable to judge for herself and show how this differentiation is consistent with the soft/hard distinction that I am proposing. |
| Supervisor | Kis, Janos |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2012/koenig_leela.pdf |
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