Bonus Quotation of the Day…

(Don Boudreaux)

Tweet

… is from page 60 of Christopher Snowdon’s excellent 2017 book, Killjoys: A Critique of Paternalism (link added):

In their day-to-day political activities, ‘public health’ paternalists rarely attempt to justify their position on ethical grounds, preferring instead to talk about ‘evidence-based policy’ (see Whyte 2013). This keeps the conversation on the consequentialist turf of ‘does it work?’ rather than opening up the question ‘is it right?’, but their consequentialism is of a narrow sort. If a policy is believed to prolong life or curtail risky behaviour, then it ‘works’ and becomes ‘evidence-based’ per se. Other consequences are largely ignored, including the implications for people’s welfare, unless they directly affect health.