Public health policies which involve active intervention to improve the health of the population are often criticised as paternalistic. This paper argues that it is a mistake to frame our discussions of public health policies in terms of paternalism. First, it is deeply problematic to pick out which policies should count as paternalistic; at best we can talk about paternalistic justifications f...

Abstract Following a seminal definition by Gerald Dworkin, paternalism comprises interventions which interfere with the liberty or autonomy of person, lack concerned person’s consent and are conducted benevolent intention. In paper titled “The Concept Paternalism” Dominik Düber advises abstaining from applying notions in conceptual analysis order to avoid confusion moral preconception regarding...

This chapter concerns the normativity of the concepts of paternalism and libertarian paternalism. The first concept is central to evaluation of public health policy, but its meaning is controversial. The second concept is equally controversial and has received much attention recently. It may or may not shape the future evaluation of public health policy. In order to facilitate honest and fruitf...

We know that around 30% of all cancers are preventable. We also know that there is clear evidence of the causal relations between obesity and cancer. This means that there could be lifestyles that could prevent obesity and, thus, cancer. Yet, who legitimises these lifestyles and on which ground? Should citizens be free to accept or not to accept policies concerning them? This is a problem faced...

The first industrial hospital in America opened in 1840 in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Lowell Corporation Hospital was sponsored by the town's textile employers for ninety years. This article analyses the contextual complications surrounding the employers' sustained funding of the hospital. Motivations for sustained sponsorship included paternalism, clinical excellence, business custom, the labo...

Citizens’ desires to assist the poor reflect a mixture of insurance motives, altruism, and paternalism. Consequently, government policies toward the poor have always been a mixture of income supports and regulations of recipient behavior. Unfortunately, there have been very few analyses of the how these distinct motives interact to generate various policies to the poor. In this paper, we develo...