Together Apart: Freshman Colloquium

Smoking: The Abominable Health Decision

Lyme Cho

Abstract

Should health decisions should be left solely up to individuals? This paper will focus specifically on smoking regarding the ethical implications of prioritizing individuals over the public. Although individual values of freedom are important, paternalism promotes just health outcomes by offering solutions to self-control problems. There are three central claims focused on addressing this debate: intervention, constant vigilance, and subjective health values. Drawing from psychology and philosophy, I discuss the extent of paternalism and autonomy adequately intervening in decisions to smoke, analyzing the role of objective values against subjective beliefs in health decisions.

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