CommentaryPhilip Pettit: Two images of state and economy

Department of Philosophy and Charles Perkins CentreCaroline West and Paul E. Griffiths

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The ‘Intervention Ladder’

Public health: Ethical Issues. London: Nuffield Bioethics Council, 2007.

Three Concepts of Freedom

› 1. Freedom as non-interference (negative freedom)

› 2. Freedom as non-domination (resilient freedom)

› 3. Freedom as self-rule or self-government (personal autonomy)

Individual Autonomy

› Autonomous only when you act from first order desires that you do endorse, or would endorse, under appropriate conditions of reflection

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Prevention and Enablement

› Self-government requires enablement (education, information, etc.), not simply freedom from (actual or possible) interference

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High on the ladder?

› Require the provision of small serving sizes

› Prohibit large serving sizes

› Mandate the format of food labeling

› Prohibit advertising of specific foods

› Prohibit specific techniques of sub-rational persuasion