The Autonomous Choice Architect

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Mills
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Choice ◽  
Choice Architect

scholarly journals How autonomy is understood in discussions on the ethics of nudging

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANASTASIA VUGTS ◽  
MARIËTTE VAN DEN HOVEN ◽  
EMELY DE VET ◽  
MARCEL VERWEIJ
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
The Other ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Autonomous Choice ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Impact

AbstractNudging is considered a promising approach for behavioural change. At the same time, nudging has raised ethical concerns, specifically in relation to the impact of nudges on autonomous choice. A complexity is that in this debate authors may appeal to different understandings or dimensions of autonomy. Clarifying the different conceptualisations of autonomy in ethical debates around nudging would help to advance our understanding of the ethics of nudging. A literature review of these considerations was conducted in order to identify and differentiate between the conceptualisations of autonomy. In 33 articles on the ethics of nudging, we identified 280 autonomy considerations, which we labelled with 790 unique autonomy codes and grouped under 61 unique super-codes. Finally, we formulated three general conceptualisations of autonomy. Freedom of choice refers to the availability of options and the environment in which individuals have to make choices. Agency involves an individual's capacity to deliberate and determine what to choose. Self-constitution relates to someone's identity and self-chosen goals. In the debate about the ethics of nudging, authors refer to different senses of autonomy. Clarifying these conceptualisations contributes to a better understanding of how nudges can undermine or, on the other hand, strengthen autonomy.

The Body as a Site of Politics

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Sara Rushing
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Political ◽  
Autonomous Choice ◽  
Health Citizenship ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
A Site

The body, political theorists well know, has long served as a metaphor for the structure and relations of the polis. But embodiment is something that political theory has frequently bracketed when theorizing citizenship, agency, and the category of “the human.” Against this tendency, how might we reimagine the political potential of embodiment, or make space for considering “the virtues of vulnerability”? This chapter sets up the book as a whole, by raising and situating this question, and introducing readers to the key concepts grounding this inquiry: humility, autonomy, citizen-subjectivity, awakenings, medicalization, and neoliberalism. How does the problem of bodies get taken up within contemporary healthcare, where the consumer-patient gets hailed as an autonomous choice-maker, and what lessons can we learn about health, and health citizenship, from examining the tensions at work here?

Giving Children a Say without Giving Them a Choice: Obtaining Affirmation of a child’s Non-dissent to Participation in Nonbeneficial Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-97
Author(s):  
HOLLY KANTIN
Keyword(s):  
Direct Benefit ◽  
Autonomous Choice

Abstract:To what extent, if any, should minors have a say about whether they participate in research that offers them no prospect of direct benefit? This article addresses this question as it pertains to minors who cannot understand enough about what their participation would involve to make an autonomous choice, but can comprehend enough to have and express opinions about participating. The first aim is to defend David Wendler and Seema Shah’s claim that minors who meet this description should not be offered a choice about whether they participate. The second aim is to show, contra Wendler and Shah, that the principle of nonmaleficence requires more with respect to giving these minors a say than merely respecting their dissent. Additionally, it requires that investigators obtain affirmation of their non-dissent. This addresses intuitive concerns about denying children a choice, while steering clear of the problems that arise with allowing them one.

Message and Environment: a framework for nudges and choice architecture

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUCA CONGIU ◽  
IVAN MOSCATI
Keyword(s):  
Choice Architecture ◽  
Choice Architect

AbstractWe argue that the diverse components of a choice architecture can be classified into two main dimensions – Message and Environment – and that the distinction between them is useful in order to better understand how nudges work. In the first part of this paper, we define what we mean by nudge, explain what Message and Environment are, argue that the distinction between them is conceptually robust and show that it is also orthogonal to other distinctions advanced in the nudge literature. In the second part, we review some common types of nudges and show they target either Message or Environment or both dimensions of the choice architecture. We then apply the Message–Environment framework to discuss some features of Amazon's website and, finally, we indicate how the proposed framework could help a choice architect to design a new choice architecture.

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