Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Bodily sovereignty, externalities and vaccines


The existence of externalities (physical and psychic interconnectedness) means that the approach of "live and let live" is not a complete political philosophy to hold.

A farmer or factory upstream can poison the water that is needed by those living downstream. This is unacceptable and why we have environmental agencies.

But when it comes to our bodies we should never force a product or practice on someone who doesn't want it.

It may be argued that doing so results in a positive externality for society, as in the case of "herd immunity" used to promote vaccines, but I don't think this argument is strong enough to override the individual's right to sovereignty over their own body.

If we do accept that the state owns our body then we are on a slippery slope, indeed!

No comments: