Moral responsibility for (un)healthy behaviour

Journal of Medical Ethics 39 (11):695-698 (2013)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Combatting chronic, lifestyle-related disease has become a healthcare priority in the developed world. The role personal responsibility should play in healthcare provision has growing pertinence given the growing significance of individual lifestyle choices for health. Media reporting focussing on the ‘bad behaviour’ of individuals suffering lifestyle-related disease, and policies aimed at encouraging ‘responsibilisation’ in healthcare highlight the importance of understanding the scope of responsibility ascriptions in this context. Research into the social determinants of health and psychological mechanisms of health behaviour could undermine some commonly held and tacit assumptions about the moral responsibility of agents for the sorts of lifestyles they adopt. I use Philip Petit's conception of freedom as ‘fitness to be held responsible’ to consider the significance of some of this evidence for assessing the moral responsibility of agents. I propose that, in some cases, factors outside the agent's control may influence behaviour in such a way as to undermine her freedom along the three dimensions described by Pettit: freedom of action; a sense of identification with one's actions; and whether one's social position renders one vulnerable to pressure from more powerful others

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,449

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Comment on Brown and Savulescu.Per Algander - 2019 - Journal of Medical Ethics 45 (10):645-645.
Lifestyle, responsibility and justice.E. Feiring - 2008 - Journal of Medical Ethics 34 (1):33-36.
Obesity and Responsibility for Health.Rekha Nath - 2024 - In Ben Davies, Gabriel De Marco, Neil Levy & Julian Savulescu, Responsibility and Healthcare. Oxford University Press USA. pp. 184-209.
Resisting Moralisation in Health Promotion.Rebecca C. H. Brown - 2018 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 21 (4):997-1011.
Responsibility for ill-health and lifestyle: Drilling down into the details.Neil Levy - 2024 - In Ben Davies, Gabriel De Marco, Neil Levy & Julian Savulescu, Responsibility and Healthcare. Oxford University Press USA. pp. 167-183.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-01-12

Downloads
88 (#246,173)

6 months
5 (#702,808)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Rebecca C H Brown
University of Oxford

References found in this work

Freedom and Resentment.Peter Strawson - 1962 - Proceedings of the British Academy 48:187-211.
What is the point of equality.Elizabeth Anderson - 1999 - Ethics 109 (2):287-337.
A theory of justice.John Rawls - 2009 - In Steven M. Cahn, Exploring ethics: an introductory anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 133-135.

View all 20 references / Add more references