Autonomy:  “the capacity to be one's own person, to live one's life according to reasons and motives that are taken as one's own and not the product of manipulative or distorting external forces.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Harm Principle:  "We should allow rational people to be self-determining, except possibly where autonomy should be restricted if, by doing so, we act to prevent harm to others." Don Berkich

Wow! That leaves the door wide open! Some questions:

  • What is harm?
  • How much harm is tolerable before self-determination is disallowed?
  • How much certainty of harm is required before self-determination is disallowed?
  • How about when self-determined actions or non-actions both harm and prevent harm (effects with differing certainty, magnitude, and timescale)?
  • Who is doing the disallowing? (The government? One's conscience?)

Given that all action and inaction incurs risk (because we can never know for sure what will happen), one cannot know for sure if one's action/inaction will cause harm- if not immediately, then maybe down the road.

Next: Paternalism and the Harm Principle