Philosophy 1250F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Paternalism, Scientific Revolution, Seat Belt
13 Sep 2018
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Much more connected with the law than it is with morality: the law that says you must wear a seat belt when you are in a car is a standard example. Another example: you must wear a helmet if you ride a motor cycle. Paternalistic laws in general are laws that are designed to protect people from their own irrationality or carelessness. Even if you tell people to wear a seat belt, lots of people still won"t. If you don"t put on a seat belt, you get fined. They conflict with the idea that people should be able to make their own choices as long as they don"t hurt other people. Once you"re an adult, you should be able to do whatever you want as long as this action doesn"t harm others. Mill"s thought was that for a long time, we go to school, so the educational system has a long time to teach us how to behave.
