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Along with inestimable human livelihood and wealth, the free market creates various possibilities to foolishly harm oneself. Some questions Sunstein does not ra
by pithic 11y ago
Along with inestimable human livelihood and wealth, the free market creates various possibilities to foolishly harm oneself. Some questions Sunstein does not raise are:
1. Does the option of self-harm have value? If such options are forcibly removed, is the human condition degraded? For example, if one is stripped of having the sense of self-ownership, is that person limited in their level of human development and functioning?
2. Can harmful products be forbidden without the threat and use of violence against their would-be producers and consumers?
3. How successful could we expect such efforts to be, based on similar past and current efforts? And how costly, monetarily, socially, and in human lives?
4. How likely are such efforts, and the institutions that exert them, to be corrupted and bent to the service of powerful interests?
- tomp 11y agoI think the US prohibitions, first the alcohol in the past, and the current drug prohibition, pretty resoundingly answer that restricting freedom (in this way) results in very damaging outcomes.
- jdreaver 11y ago> Along with inestimable human livelihood and wealth, the free market creates various possibilities to foolishly harm oneself. As opposed to the ability for the state to foolishly harm us? Sure, a free market allows humans to be human and make mistakes, but allowing others to take your freedom in the interest of self-preservation is a fool's compromise. Certainly, you raise great philosophical questions though. One of my favorite thought experiments is to imagine how many things done by the government today could be accomplished without the government. I don't mean obvious things like the postal service, I mean fundamental services like road building and a court system. I plan to read David Friedman's book soon on this topic, called "Legal Systems Very Different From Ours": http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Course_Pages/legal_systems_very_different_12/LegalSystemsDraft.html http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Course_Pages/legal_sy...