Paternalism is the policy or practice of treating or governing people in a fatherly way, especially by providing for them without giving them rights or responsibilities. This kind of paternalism is often found in sports and in medicine.

Committee Still Leaves Players Out (http://wn.apc.org/wmail/issues/950818/wm950818-9.html)
A discussion of the damage to South African rugby caused by misguided paternalistic attitudes.

Coaching Code of Conduct (http://home.istar.ca/~cabc/serv01.htm)
The responsibilities of a coach are much like those of parents. A coach influences not only the athletic development of their players, but also the personal development of them.

Informative Paternalism: Studies in the ethics of promoting and predicting health (http://chaplin.bibl.liu.se/liupubl/disp/disp97/art )
An ethical conflict exists between promoting health and respecting the individual rights of patients. Paternalistic actions include those that effect the patient without his informed consent.

Medical Paternalism and Patient Self-Determination-Who Decides?  (http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/ves.london/advance )
A discussion of the legal situation of advance directives and living wills in England and Wales as they are controlled by paternalistic attitudes.

Civil Liberties and State Paternalism (http://www.forces-cdn.com/articles.htm )
A series of articles attempts to make a case for smoker’s rights and for how these rights are being repressed by the paternalistic Canadian government.

The Illegal Search for Self Awareness (http://deoxy.org/shulgin.htm )
Psychedelic drugs, specifically peyote, are used by many members of the Native American Church as a means of obtaining visions and experiencing personal insight. The United States government continues to fight this form of religious expression in a paternalistic effort to combat drug use.

Return to class readings page:  Kinesiology 493: Philosophy of Kinesiology