Tough Choices (ebook)

Argumento de Tough Choices (ebook)

"Tough Choices is a marvelously tough-minded, humane, and elegantly written essay on the value of choice in the politics of free societies. Ben-Porath has fresh, sober, and compelling things to say about a topic that is commonly shrouded in a fog of ideological folly. This is a rare thing: a wise and useful book about one of our most fundamental public values."--Eamonn Callan, Stanford University

"Tough Choices is a really excellent, pioneering work. Covering a wide range of topics, it carves out a position that challenges the orthodox antipaternalistic tendencies in contemporary liberal political theory and beyond. This book is a pleasure to read."--Harry Brighouse, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"A lively book that engages pressing public policy concerns and makes original contributions to political theory. Ben-Porath argues for an interesting and distinctive position: that the insights from behavioral economics and psychology illuminate a path toward a liberal defense of paternalism which, rather than constraining liberty, actually enhances opportunity and expands horizons of choice. This is a fine book that will attract attention within and outside of liberal political theory."--Rob Reich, Stanford University

"This is an important and ambitious book. It is important because it challenges head on, and in a serious, non-polemical but engaging and lively way, the widely held view that politics should fundamentally be concerned with the protection and promotion of individual freedom of choice. It is ambitious because its 180 pages not only present a distinctive theoretical framework for thinking about the relation between state regulation and individual choice but also illustrate that framework by applying it to a range of topics, many of which have been the subject of extensive scholarly debate."--Adam Swift, Theory and Research in Education

"Sigal Ben-Porath's thought-provoking book Tough Choices, advances a thoughtful and systematic defense of structured paternalism in several domains, including the regulation of intimacy, the treatment of children, the treatment of members of minority cultural groups, and school choice. . . . Ben-Porath's structured paternalism is devoid of much of what critics find alarming about paternalism and offers novel solutions to pressing issues facing policymakers."--Jennifer M. Morton, Educational Theory0Acknowledgments ix
Chapter 1: To Choose or Not to Choose? 1
Chapter 2: Why Paternalism Is Good for You 18
Chapter 3: The Regulation of Intimacy 43
Chapter 4: Paternalism toward Children 66
Chapter 5: Exit with Caution: On Culture and Choice 89
Chapter 6: School Choice as a Bounded Ideal 123
Conclusion: Structured Paternalism and the Landscape of Choice 144
Notes 153
Index 175