ABSTRACT
According to political philosopher Gerald Dworkin (2010), paternalism is “the interference of a state or an individual with another person, against their will, and defended or motivated by a claim that the person interfered with will be better off or protected from harm.” While one individual can certainly act paternalistically toward another, such as when a person takes the car keys from a drunken friend to keep him from driving while inebriated, state paternalism receives much more attention because of the state’s ability to establish and enforce coercive policies and regulations, and so it is on state paternalism that this chapter focuses.
