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Responsibility as an Obstacle to Good Policy: The Case of Lifestyle Related Disease.

Neil Levy
Published in: Journal of bioethical inquiry (2018)
There is a lively debate over who is to blame for the harms arising from unhealthy behaviours, like overeating and excessive drinking. In this paper, I argue that given how demanding the conditions required for moral responsibility actually are, we cannot be highly confident that anyone is ever morally responsible. I also adduce evidence that holding people responsible for their unhealthy behaviours has costs: it undermines public support for the measures that are likely to have the most impact on these harms. I claim that these two facts-the fact that we cannot be highly confident that anyone is morally responsible and the fact that holding people responsible for their unhealthy behaviours has costs-interact. Together they give us a powerful reason for believing, or acting as if we believed, that ordinary people are not in fact responsible for their unhealthy behaviours.
Keyphrases
  • healthcare
  • metabolic syndrome
  • cardiovascular disease
  • physical activity
  • emergency department
  • weight loss
  • body mass index
  • adverse drug
  • drug induced