Graduate students are also welcome to take the course.
The basic issue will be to what extent and under what conditions governments are justified in treating citizens paternalistically. We will particularly focus on the case of punishment. Government intervenes in the life of its citizens in a variety of ways. It raises taxes, creates laws which regulate the behavior of citizens, and provides services to citizens. The issue examined in this course is the extent to which government should decide what is good for its citizens, and control their behavior against their will, and what sorts of justifications can be given for that.