After reading both articles, "Paternalism" by Dworkin and "On Liberty" by Mill, I believe that Dworkin is correct in explaining that some intervention is necessary under certain circumstances. I have come to this conclusion based on the fact that there do exist circumstances in which an individual is incapable of making a rational decision considering not only the well being of himself, but also the

As you can see from the examples above, there are circumstances in which the government is justified in interfering in the decisions of its citizens. A large condition of these circumstances has been proven to be whether or not there is truly a choice for the individual, whether or not the individual is rationally deciding between two recognizable values. When a person is not doing so because of an inability to fully understand the ramifications of such a decision, the government has aright to step in and help the person. This is because at this understanding of the situation, the person is not capable of making a decision that he would likely consent to at after fully understanding the situation. As in the seat belt case, often times, a person does not fully understand that not wearing a seat belt contradicts his true desires and that no possible good or benefit can come from not wearing it. However, when a person is making a rational decision between two things that he values, he is the only person that can decide which is best for him. An important condition to remember in this conclusion is that all of this is assuming that no other individuals are being harmed or put at risk by the actions of these people. Under this condition I have come to the conclusion that there do exist certain circumstances where the government has a right to legal paternalism. These circumstances include times when an individual is unable to make a rational and logical decision for himself either because he does not fully understand the issue or because he is unable to logically assign value to specific possible consequences of a decision.

well being of other members of society. Also, the argument that the protection of the individual committing the action in question is not reason enough to interfere with the action is ludicrous in that one of our governments main reasons for existence is to protect the members of our society. This protection includes protection from ourselves at times when we are unable to rationally decide what is in our best interests. This essay will consist of an examination of this controversy as well as an application of my proposed conclusion.

Another real life example that this idea of justified paternalism can be applied to is the use of cigarettes. In this case, the government interferes with the free choice of the decision of whether or not to smoke in the lives of citizens under the age of eighteen. This interference is justifie

Some common words found in the essay are:
Liberty Mill, Gerald Dworkin, seat belt, wearing seat, wearing seat belt, wear seat belt, wear seat, seat belt person, free choice, exist circumstances, belt person, reason believe, unable rational, unable rational logical, logical decision, rational logical, seat belt inconvenient,
Approximate Word count = 1663
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)