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MugaSofer comments on Ethicality of Denying Agency - Less Wrong Discussion

9 Post author: pwno 07 July 2014 05:40AM

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Comment author: MugaSofer 07 July 2014 06:04:42PM *  0 points [-]

I think I'm actually more comfortable with the scenario where you are the primary/sole beneficiary.

Denying someone's agency to benefit them is really treating them like a child, and is only appropriate in a case where they really don't have the capacity to exercise it (besides children, e.g. adults with significant dementia or cognitive impairment.)

Why is treating an adult "like a child" inherently worse than treating a child that way?

Comment author: gwillen 07 July 2014 06:14:42PM 3 points [-]

Let me rephrase that as "treating them like they have a diminished capacity for agency, which is only appropriate if they actually do."

There's a cultural presumption, which I am neither intending to support nor to argue with here, that children fall into this category.

Comment author: MugaSofer 10 July 2014 09:12:08PM 1 point [-]

There's a cultural presumption, which I am neither intending to support nor to argue with here, that children fall into this category.

Indeed. But more importantly, do adults fall into that category? That's what's being discussed here.

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