Kaj_Sotala comments on Our House, My Rules - Less Wrong

36 Post author: David_J_Balan 02 November 2009 12:44AM

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Comment author: David_J_Balan 05 November 2009 04:12:08PM 0 points [-]

It's not that in well-functioning societies there's no need for paternalism. It's that in well-functioning societies the government can be trusted with enough power that they can carry out the kind of modestly paternalistic agenda that people like me favor. Similarly, in well-functioning families parents can be trusted with enough power to do modest, reasonable parental paternalism. Naturally, in poorly-functioning societies/families the government/parents seize power anyway, but we're talking abut what's legitimate, not about what actually happens.