10th Annual Fall Ethics Symposium – Session 2
The Ethics of Nudging at Cosumnes River College
Session 2
Much Ado About Nudging by Moti Gorin, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Colorado State University
00:00 Introduction
00:37 Panel Introductions
04:13 Much Ado About Nudging by Moti Gorin
1:02:28 Panel Q&A
1:27:11 Audience Q&A
1:56:49 Closing
Some philosophers claim that libertarian paternalist interventions, i.e., so-called “nudges,” exert an illicit form of control over those whose behavior they influence. The worry is that nudgers, by exploiting various cognitive deficits, undermine the autonomy of nudgees. Such criticisms rest on an assumption the truth of which behavioral economists have openly called into doubt. The assumption is that people always, or almost always, have authentic preferences over the options confronting them, preferences that accurately reflect deeply held values. Moti Gorin argues that recent research strongly suggests that this assumption is false and that consequently autonomy-based objections to nudging fail. This narrow defense of nudging does not, however, let libertarian paternalists completely off the hook. Though there is nothing especially morally troubling about nudges they — like any form of influence — can be morally problematic when they are invasive or when they fail to aim at the right ends.
Moti Gorin was educated at Rice University (Ph.D, MA, Philosophy) and The University of Pennsylvania (MBE, Bioethics).
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The Center for Practical & Professional Ethics – http://www.csus.edu/cppe
Cosumnes River College – http://www.crc.losrios.edu/
For more information about Los Rios Community College District –http://www.losrios.edu/
