Autonomy vs Paternalism

Every year, there are over 400,000 smoking-related deaths in the United States. A large percentage of these are due to lung cancer, whose leading cause is smoking. However, not all deaths are smokers themselves. Anyone in the vicinity can fall victim to second hand smoke. These people, through no action of their own, can have their lives threatened.

The Principle of Legal Paternalism justifies State interference with personal rights to protect individuals from self-inflicted harm and to guide them toward their own good. Legal Philosophers have often drawn a distinction between “soft” and “hard” Paternalism. “Soft” Paternalism restricts an individual’s actions in circumstances where the conduct is insufficiently voluntary. In contrast, "hard" Paternalism restricts an individual's actions in circumstances where the conduct is sufficiently voluntary.

Second hand smoke is harmful to all people around those who smoke. Second hand smoke affects children the most. Second hand smoke kills 53,800 thousand people a year. Second hand smoke kills more people a year than lung cancer a year, lung cancer only kills 48,500 people a year. There are more people who die from secondhand smoke than people who get in car crashes. Tobacco products such as dip give many people mouth cancer. E cigarettes say on the label that they don't¨get people addicted or that they don't have nicotine but they do.

Paternalism is the belief that someone knows 'better' than the individual him or herself what is the right way for that individual to live. For example, for centuries, many men had paternalistic attitudes about middle-class women, deeming it unseemly for women to work. Paternalism was used by self-interested whites to justify enslaving African-Americans for 'their own good,' or to colonize non-white people to 'carry the white man's burden.'

Smokers are faced with many health problems with lung cancer and many other cancers been a big health risk due to what is in the cigarettes. Other health risks are coronary heart disease, heart attacks, stokes, respiratory problems such as chronic bronchitis, pneumonia and can worsen asthma.Secondhand smoke comes from the tip of a lit cigarette and is the smoke that the smoker breathes out. People who breathe in secondhand smoke are at risk of the same health conditions as smokers, particularly lung cancer and heart disease. Their quality of life is affected with smokers more at risk of cancers and heart diseases, also they would be more prone to getting sick and also having to clear their throat in the morning due to been caught up.

Smoking also causes some serious respiratory diseases. Emphysema is a disease that robs a person of their ability to breathe. This disease is terminal and it kills you. It destroys a little bit of your lungs at a time so you don’t even realize there is problem. Patients who have emphysema can survive for many years with the help of oxygen tanks and special breathing exercises. Everyday activities, like shopping, cleaning, or exercising are some things that you can’t do in the later stages of emphysema. Elaine Landau says in her book “Cigarettes” that one cigarette lessens a smokers life by 7 minutes. Overall smoking is very dangerous a deadly it causes over 300,000 deaths a year in the United States. So if you’re ever offered one just remember how dangerous it is even if it only lessens your life by 7 minutes. However you don’t have to smoke to be harmed by cigarette. This leads us to the effects of secondhand smoke. Inhaling smoke from others is called passive smoking.

Medically secondhand smoke causes a lot of medical issues such as cancer, heart disease, coughing, mucus, chest discomfort, reduced lung function, asthma attacks, and low-birth-weights. Ethically there is a violation of people’s

Secondhand smoke is by far, worse than first hand smoke, and the effects of it are immediate on the cardiovascular system. Secondhand smoke causes numerous health problems, especially in infants and children, including more frequent and severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome (SID). Not to say adults are safer, secondhand smoke is also linked to stroke, impaired lung function, Lung cancer, coronary heart disease, nasal irritation, lower respiratory illness, and reproductive effects in women. All these are prevalent in first hand smokers as well, and if we were to get into third hand smoking then the topic would no longer be banning smoking in all public places but rather, ban smoking in

Sarah Conly’s book “Against Autonomy” proposes many counterarguments to the liberalist approach of Mill. One of her most interesting arguments in defense of coercive paternalism is that “while in some cases autonomous action does no harm, in other cases it does, however ‘harm’ is construed – as detrimental to happiness, detrimental to material survival, or even detrimental to the promotion of autonomous action.” It is really interesting because it claims that perfect autonomy would be detrimental to itself. To give

Ever since we are born we have someone looking over us, someone guiding us, someone telling us what to do. This concept carries into our culture and interweaves itself into every aspect of our lives. Our first steps out into the world on our own, away from our parents, is to go to school. Here we are governed primarily by our teachers, but also by the school administrators. When it comes time to complete our educations and embark, finally, into the real world to be by ourselves, to make our own decisions we are met with are rude awakening. Out here we are faced with the simple reality that we will never be free from someone looking over us. Our government watches us through the eyes of the local law enforcement. Our bosses watch us through our shift managers. Our landlords watch us through routine inspections. It seems we can never escape or truly be

Secondhand smoke is a volatile air pollutant that poses health risks for anyone nearby. It places children at risk for developing issues like asthma, ear and respiratory infections, and even cancer, while increasing the more obvious risks of cancer, heart disease, and stroke for the smoker.

However, one’s [present] choices might threaten one’s future freedom, therefore restrictions that would prevent such a situation are justified as well. Soft paternalism is also useful to protect individuals from any decision they would most likely regret later, for example ones taken in ‘temporary states’ (of fear, anger, or depression), especially when there is no turning back possible . So paternalism is justified when restrictions are for the own good of individuals, whether they acknowledge it or not, and prevent them from potential irreversible damages. Finally, unlike Mill who ‘endows the average individual with too much reason and rationality’ , Dworkin, like Hart, suggests that individuals may not always correctly understand or appreciate some situations and dangers , so paternalism should be justified to prevent them from harming others. In the end, the author justifies several cases of paternalism but also suggests, whenever it is possible, to opt for prevention over

A. Second hand smoke causes just as many of the same health issues to those around a smoker and as could be produced in the smoker. As reported by the Center for Disease Control, illness from smoking ranges from lung cancer, ischemic heart disease, and chronic airway obstruction as well as shortening a person's lifespan averaging 13.2 years for me and 14.5 years for women (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion). These are risks that many smokers know may just be regurgitated facts, but is not hearing them once more another chance to decide that health is better than a cigarette? Much of the health issues that society deals with today would be greatly decreased if more and more people began to quit smoking.

The primary focal point of the authoritarian style is on respect rather than parent-child relationships. Authoritarian parents are known for being strict. They lay out rules and expect their children to follow them without question, even if the child has a valid reason for questioning a decision. They establish many rules for the household and leave little or no room for negotiation on policies. Authoritarian parents also fail to explain why the rules exist because they believe that, as the parent, they are the authority on all decisions and shouldn’t be questioned.

You do not have to be an active smoker to experience the harmful effects of smoke. Breathing in the smoke of active smokers is enough to cause you serious health issues. Non-smokers who breathe in secondhand smoke take in nicotine and other toxic chemicals causing them serious health issues. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke damages their organs, mainly the lungs and brain.