Adam Smith’s Libertarian Paternalism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Otteson
Keyword(s):  
Adam Smith ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Libertarian Paternalism ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Cass Sunstein ◽  
The Right

Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein argue for “libertarian paternalism,” defined as the strategy to devise policy that will “maintain or increase freedom of choice” and at the same time “influence people’s behavior in order to make their lives longer, healthier, and better”. These two goals are often in conflict, and striking the right balance between them has proved difficult in both theory and practice. Where does Adam Smith fall in this debate? This chapter argues that Smith developed his own version of “libertarian paternalism.” It differs in important ways from that of Thaler and Sunstein, but it shares with them an attempt to balance respect for individual autonomy with a desire to help people lead better lives. Smith’s position accommodates the importance of both liberty and paternalism in enabling individuals to construct lives worth living, while avoiding some of the problems that have beset more recent versions of libertarian paternalism.

scholarly journals 儒家視角下的死亡的尊嚴

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-53
Author(s):  
Jianhui LI ◽  
Yaming LI
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Confucian Ethics ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.在當代的醫療實踐中，各種新的醫療技術在臨終階段的應用引發了關於如何維護死亡的尊嚴的激烈爭論。爭論的焦點集中在對什麼是人的尊嚴和什麼是死亡的尊嚴的概念的不同理解上。人的尊嚴概念在當代西方的倫理學中尚沒有得到清晰的闡釋，死亡的尊嚴概念更是存在混亂。儒家倫理學則可以在這種討論中為問題的解決提供新的思路。本文試圖重建儒家的人的尊嚴和死亡的尊嚴的基本含義，並對死亡的尊嚴與人的生物學生命的關係，死亡的尊嚴與人的痛苦的關係，死亡的尊嚴同人的自主性的關係，以及死亡的尊嚴同社會公平正義之間的關係做出分析說明。儒家關於人的尊嚴的觀點有助於化解西方死亡倫理研究中出現的概念混亂和理論矛盾。What does a death have dignity? In modern healthcare, the wide use of new technology has generated confusion around how to define and protect human dignity, especially in the case of death and dying. Those who advocate the legalization of assisted suicide often appeal to the right to “die with dignity” and the right to individual autonomy. The problem is that it is very difficult to justify one particular understanding of human dignity in the contemporary pluralistic world through a rational formulation without defining dignity.In this paper, the authors attempt to respond to the current debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide from a Confucian perspective. The paper first defines the Confucian concept of human dignity and shows how the concept could be used in the case of dignity in death and dying. The authors argue that in Confucianism, there are two kinds of dignity: One is intrinsic dignity, which is endowed by Heaven on everyone, and the other is extrinsic dignity, which arises from the cultivation of virtues. This extrinsic dignity is also called “personal dignity.” Unlike the individual-oriented human dignity model, Confucian ethics argue for a family-oriented model of human dignity. That is to say, the Confucian ideal of human dignity is not satisfied by a concept of human dignity that is centered on individual rights and freedom of choice; instead, it focuses on relations in a concrete community in which a person’s human dignity is actualized through morals and virtues. In the case of euthanasia and assisted suicide, therefore, the decision should not be solely based on freedom of choice, but on what kinds of values and obligations the person has. In addition, the paper shows that the Confucian view of human dignity does not support the idea of prolonging life through technological means without restraints.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 1292 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

Art, Idleness and Food: The Ethics of War Communism and the Origins of Production Art, 1918–1919

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-287
Keyword(s):  
Theory And Practice ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Early Production ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Soviet Ideology ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Theory Of Production

The article examines the impact of the discourses concerning idleness and food on the formation of “production art” in the socio-political context of revolutionary Petrograd. The author argues that the development of the theory and practice of this early productionism was closely related to the larger political, social and ideological processes in the city. The Futurists, who were in the epicenter of Petrograd politics during the Civil War (1918–1921), were well acquainted with both of the discourses mentioned, and they contrasted the idleness of the old art with the dedicated labor of the “artist-proletarians” whom they valued as highly as people in the “traditional” working professions. And the search for the “right to exist” became the most important goal in a starving city dominated by the ideology of radical communism. The author departs from the prevailing approach in the literature, which links the artistic thought of the Futurists to Soviet ideology in its abstract, generalized form, and instead elucidates ideological influences in order to consider the early production texts in their immediate social and political contexts. The article shows that the basic concepts of production art (“artist-proletarian,” “creative labor,” etc.) were part of the mainstream trends in the politics of “red Petrograd.” The Futurists borrowed the popular notion of the “commune” for the title of their main newspaper but also worked with the Committees of the Rural Poor and with the state institutions for procurement and distribution. They took an active part in the Fine Art Department of Narkompros (People’s Commissariat of Education). The theory of production art was created under these conditions. The individualistic protest and “aesthetic terror” of pre-revolutionary Futurism had to be reconsidered, and new state policy measures were based on them. The harsh socio-economic context of war communism prompted artists to rethink their own role in the “impending commune.” Further development of these ideas led to the Constructivist movement and strongly influenced the extremely diverse trends within the “left art” of the 1920s.

Universal Health Coverage

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joia S. Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Universal Health Coverage ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Quality Health Care ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Quality Health ◽  
The Right ◽  
Universal Health

This chapter explores the seminal topic of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), an objective within the Sustainable Development goals. It reviews the theory and definitions that shape the current conversation on UHC. The movement from selective primary health care to UHC demonstrates a global commitment to the progressive realization of the right to health. However, access to UHC is limited by barriers to care, inadequate provision of care, and poor-quality services. To deliver UHC, it is critical to align inputs in the health system with the burden of disease. Quality of care must also be improved. Steady, sufficient financing is needed to achieve the laudable goal of UHC.This chapter highlights some important steps taken by countries to expand access to quality health care. Finally, the chapter investigates the theory and practice behind a morbidity-based approach to strengthening health systems and achieving UHC.

Libertarian Paternalism, Manipulation, and the Shaping of Preferences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Hanna
Keyword(s):  
Libertarian Paternalism ◽  
Cass Sunstein ◽  
Influence Behavior

This chapter considers libertarian paternalism, or “nudging,” as championed by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. It focuses especially on the objection that such intervention is wrongly manipulative. The chapter begins by arguing that the charge of manipulation is most likely to be made against preference-shaping paternalism, which aims to influence behavior by operating on a person’s desires from the inside. It then argues that manipulation typically involves one person’s affecting another person’s deliberation for the worse: the victim of manipulation is typically led to act on bad reasons or ignore or downplay relevant considerations. This rough account of manipulation, it is argued, vindicates most of the preference-shaping strategies favored by Thaler and Sunstein. The chapter concludes by examining more problematic means of influence, such as subliminal messaging, and argues that they do not pose any distinctive threat to a pro-paternalist view.

scholarly journals Maternal and child health: is making ‘healthy choices’ an oxymoron?

2020 ◽  
pp. 175797592096735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicia M. Low ◽  
Peter D. Gluckman ◽  
Mark A. Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Maternal And Child Health ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Healthy Choice ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right ◽  
And Child Health

The right to exercise choice is fundamental to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and it is assumed that all individuals generally enjoy freedom of choice in managing their health. Yet closer examination of this assumption calls into question its credibility and validity, especially with regard to maternal and child health around the globe. We argue that the concept of individual ‘healthy choice,’ particularly as applied to those with inadequate support and who are relatively disempowered, is flawed and unhelpful when considering the wider social, economic, and political forces underlying poor health. We instead propose that the realistic promotion of healthy choices requires acknowledging that agency lies beyond just the individual, and that individuals need to be supported through education and other structural and policy changes that facilitate a genuine ability to make healthy choices.

scholarly journals Characterization of Spatial Planning in Brazil: The Right to the City in Theory and Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Rocco ◽  
Luciana Royer ◽  
Fábio Mariz Gonçalves
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Right To The City ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

scholarly journals Understanding the geography of affordable housing provided through land value capture: Evidence from England

Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802199889
Author(s):  
Alexander Lord ◽  
Chi-Wan Cheang ◽  
Richard Dunning
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Land Values ◽  
Land Value ◽  
Local Planning ◽  
Development Activity ◽  
Value Capture ◽  
Dual Approach ◽  
The Right ◽  
Community Infrastructure

Governments the world over routinely undertake Land Value Capture (LVC) to recover some (or all) of the uplift in land values arising from the right to develop in order to fund infrastructure and public goods. Instruments to exact LVC are diverse but are usually implemented independently. However, since 2011 England has been experimenting with a dual approach to LVC, applying both a tariff-style levy to fund local infrastructure (the Community Infrastructure Levy) and negotiated obligations, used primarily to fund affordable housing (Section 106 agreements). In this article we employ a difference-in-differences (DID) method to identify the interaction of these two instruments available to local planning authorities. We explore the question of whether the Community Infrastructure Levy ‘crowds out’ affordable housing secured through Section 106 planning agreements. In so doing we show that the interaction of these two approaches is heterogeneous across local authorities of different types. This raises questions for understanding the economic geography of development activity and the theory and practice of Land Value Capture.

The Market

2021 ◽  
pp. 264-278
Author(s):  
Matthew Watson
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Daniel Defoe ◽  
The Self ◽  
Presentation Of Self ◽  
Market Institutions ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Specific Performance ◽  
The Right ◽  
Objective Existence

The market has no independent objective existence beyond the practices that are embedded within particular market institutions. Those practices, in turn, involve learning particular techniques of performance, on the assumption that each market environment rewards a corresponding type of market agency. However, the ability to reflect what might be supposed the right agential characteristics is not an instinct that is hardwired into us from birth. Instead it comes from perfecting the specific performance elements that allow people to recognize themselves as potentially competent actors in any given market context. This chapter takes the reader back to some of the earliest accounts of these performance elements, showing that important eighteenth-century debates about how to flourish as a market actor revolved around little else. In the early eighteenth century, Daniel Defoe emphasized the need for market actors to create convincing falsehoods, hiding their true feelings behind a presentation of self where customers’ whims were always catered to. In the late eighteenth century, Adam Smith was still wrestling with the dilemma of how genuinely the self could be put on display within market environments, believing that customers had a responsibility to curb excessive demands so that merchants’ interests could be respected. This meant not forcing them into knowingly false declarations, so that moral propriety and economic expedience were not necessarily antagonistic forces in the development of merchants’ character.

The Case for Repealing the Second Amendment? The Historical Barriers to Constitutional Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-607
Author(s):  
David T. Konig
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Second Amendment ◽  
The People ◽  
The Right ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Popular Constitutionalism

The controversy surrounding the Second Amendment—“the right of the people to keep and bear arms”—is, to a large extent, historical in nature, redolent of other matters in this country’s legal and constitutional past. But the historical analogies that might support the Amendment’s repeal do not permit easy conclusions. The issue demands that legal historians venture beyond familiar territory to confront unavoidable problems at the intersection of theory and practice and of constitutional law and popular constitutionalism. An interdisciplinary analysis of Lichtman’s Repeal the Second Amendment illuminates the political, legal, and constitutional dimensions—as well as the perils—of undertaking the arduous amending process permitted by Article V of the U.S. Constitution.

How to Improve Remanufacturing?—A Systematic Analysis of Practices and Theories

2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohiko Sakao ◽  
Erik Sundin
Keyword(s):  
Customer Value ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Effect Analysis ◽  
Product Service ◽  
Fishbone Diagram ◽  
Cause And Effect Analysis ◽  
The Right ◽  
A Company

Remanufacturing has gained attention from industry, but the literature lacks the scientific comprehension to realize efficient remanufacturing. This hinders a company from commencing or improving remanufacturing efficiently. To fill this gap, the paper proposes a set of practical success factors for remanufacturing. To do so, it analyzes remanufacturing practices in industry through interviews with staff from remanufacturing companies with long experience. The practical success factors are found to be (1) addressing product and component value, (2) having a customer-oriented operation, (3) having an efficient core acquisition, (4) obtaining the correct information, and (5) having the right staff competence. Next, the paper further analyzes remanufacturing processes theoretically with both cause and effect analysis and means-ends analysis. Since the factors show that, among other things, the product/service system (PSS) is highly relevant to remanufacturing in multiple ways, theories on the PSS are partly utilized. As a result, the distinctive nature of remanufacturing underlying in the processes is found to have high variability, high uncertainty and, thus, also complexity. The obtained insights from practice and theory are found to support each other. In addition, a fishbone diagram for remanufacturing is proposed based on the analysis, including seven m's, adding two new m's (marketing and maintenance) on top of the traditional five m's (measurement, material, human, method, and machine) in order to improve customer value. The major contribution of the paper lies in its insights, which are grounded in both theory and practice.

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