Paternalism Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Paternalism refers to a policy that prevents others from doing harm to themselves or a belief in such policies. For example, someone would be practicing a paternalistic philosophy by forcibly restraining another person from committing suicide, from doing drugs, or from committing any action considered harmful by the paternalist. A paternalist, then, by definition, believes that she knows more than the person she is trying to prevent from harming himself. However, the paternalist, in so doing, destroys the freedom of choice of the person "harming" himself in exchange for his well-being.Governments are often faced with the choice of adopting various kinds of paternalistic legislation. Among the most controversial of these issues are gay marriage and sodomy laws, abortion 1, gun control, policies such as curfews that are at odds with the youth rights movement, and the . Among the most famous examples of a massive failure of paternalism was the era of Prohibition in the United States.
Opponents of paternalism, such as John Stuart Mill, claim that liberty supersedes safety in terms of actions that only affect oneself. Advocates of paternalistic policies often believe that they possess some sort of "higher" knowledge than those whose behaviour they seek to limit, such as a religious, ethical, or philosophical doctrine, and will argue that while it is not moral to deprive someone of their liberty in a general situation, it is correct in that specific instance.
In favour, it could be said that every state is "paternalist" to a degree. The descriptions of the origin of the state by Aristotle see it as an extension of the family and this description seems a lot more realistic than the social contract analogies of Locke, Rousseau and Rawls. The word comes from paternal authority and there lies one of its best jusitifications: if it is considered that someone under the age of 18 may be very intelligent and responsible, yet still forbidden from smoking, drinking, buying violent films, etc., it has to be asked why a person over the age of 18 who is much less intelligent and responsible is allowed to do so. To claim that the less able members of society should be watched over could be seen as a responsibility rather than tyranny.
Libertarians are known as the most fervent opponents of paternalism. Their ideology is certainly consistent, although critics claim that it is overly simple. Few political theorists have ever completely rejected paternalism. Robert Nozick - who is generally seen as the founding father of modern libertarianism - still talked of exceptional cases of immoral behaviour where society should intervene. John Stuart Mill said that some offensive behaviour that could take place in private should be banned in public [e.g., sexual acts]. Mill also said that anyone who commits a crime whilst drunk should be banned from drinking thereafter. Schopenhauer claimed that the state should be restricted to "protecting men from each other and from external attack", yet he lived in 19th century Germany and seemed to be mainly criticising laws that promoted Christian ethics in his political writings. Modern drug and gun laws are a completely different issue.
1 Whilst those who are pro-choice on abortion see a ban on it as paternalistic, many who are pro-life claim that they are, on the contrary, upholding the individual rights of the foetus against violation.
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