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Mandating Seat Belt Usage vs. Freedom of Choice Essay example

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Mandating Seat Belt Usage vs. Freedom of Choice SOC120: Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibilities 1 How do you feel when you are told what you will or will not do? You may be told that it is for your own good, but who has the right to decide what is or is not good for you? After all who knows you better than you do? This brings me to the topic of my discussion. Even though there are some statistics that may show a lower rate of injury or death if you wear a seat belt when in an automobile accident, I do not feel that the government has the right to make wearing a seat belt mandatory for adults because by making seat belts mandatory it takes away from our right to freedom of choice, and wearing a seat …show more content…

That no one has the right to decide what is right for them, and that no one should be able to mandate what they have to or do not have to do. This topic is no different to them than say, flying in an airplane. No one tells them that they have to fly in an airplane, which requires putting their life at risk, yet they themselves make the decision to do so or not. According to our text, Utilitarianism evaluates whether an act is right or wrong in terms of the act's consequences, and argues that, given a set of choices, the act we should choose is that which produces the best results for the greatest number affected by that choice. To break it down even further, the rule utilitarian contends that one should do things that, as a rule, generate the greatest good for the greatest number (Mosser, K, 2010). I believe this to be the philosophy that the government has taken into account when establishing the seat belt mandate laws. They, being those who make these types of laws, are in fact looking out for what they believe is the greater good for the majority involved. They are not taking into account our god given freedom to make these types of choices for ourselves. On the other hand, those who oppose the passage of this law error on the ethical egoism philosophy. This philosophy argues that our moral evaluations should be made in terms of our desires and goals. Something that promotes what I want is regarded as right; something that

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