Abstract
The harm principle permits the use of legal coercion in some cases in which an individual’s actions are not confined to the sphere in which his or her choices must be respected; when an individual’s actions are so confined, another principle is especially relevant — that of paternalism. A paternalistic action is an action which involves doing something which is prima facie wrong to a person for the reason that the action is believed to be for the overall good of that person despite its wrongful aspects.1 The principle of paternalism authorizes some uses of coercive law which cannot be brought under the harm principle.
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© 1983 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Hodson, J.D. (1983). Legal Paternalism. In: The Ethics of Legal Coercion. Philosophical Studies Series in Philosophy, vol 26. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7257-5_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7257-5_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-277-1843-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-7257-5
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