TY - JOUR
T1 - The value of unhealthy eating and the ethics of healthy eating policies
AU - Barnhill, Anne
AU - King, Katherine F.
AU - Kass, Nancy
AU - Faden, Ruth
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Unhealthy eating can have value for individuals and groups, even while it has disvalue in virtue of being unhealthy. In this paper, we discuss some ways in which unhealthy eating has value and draw out implications for the ethics of policies limiting access to unhealthy food. Discussing the value and disvalue of unhealthy eating helps identify opportunities for reducing unhealthy eating that has little value, and helps identify opportunities for eliminating trade-offs between health and other values by making unhealthy food experiences healthier without eliminating their value. It also helps us think through when it is ethically acceptable, and when it might be ethically unacceptable, to limit valuable experience in order to promote health. Our discussion of the value and disvalue of eating is offered here as a necessary supplement to the familiar discussion of paternalism, autonomous choice, and public policy.
AB - Unhealthy eating can have value for individuals and groups, even while it has disvalue in virtue of being unhealthy. In this paper, we discuss some ways in which unhealthy eating has value and draw out implications for the ethics of policies limiting access to unhealthy food. Discussing the value and disvalue of unhealthy eating helps identify opportunities for reducing unhealthy eating that has little value, and helps identify opportunities for eliminating trade-offs between health and other values by making unhealthy food experiences healthier without eliminating their value. It also helps us think through when it is ethically acceptable, and when it might be ethically unacceptable, to limit valuable experience in order to promote health. Our discussion of the value and disvalue of eating is offered here as a necessary supplement to the familiar discussion of paternalism, autonomous choice, and public policy.
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U2 - 10.1353/ken.2014.0021
DO - 10.1353/ken.2014.0021
M3 - Article
C2 - 25423848
AN - SCOPUS:84920195922
SN - 1054-6863
VL - 24
SP - 187
EP - 217
JO - Kennedy Institute of Ethics journal
JF - Kennedy Institute of Ethics journal
IS - 3
ER -