Abstract
This book review aims at analyzing Cass Sunstein’s “On Freedom”, relating libertarian paternalism to the two dominant families of theories of justice, consequentialism and deontologism. My main argument is that libertarian paternalism does not constitute a middle ground between consequentialism and deontologism. Although Sunstein argues that this approach gives equal weight to both the maximization of well-being and the value of freedom of choice, in hard cases libertarian paternalism clearly tilts towards consequentialism, minimizing the value of free choice. I suggest, therefore, that this political philosophy does not propose original answers to questions about justice and about what it means to do the right thing when it comes to factual and moral controversies.
Keywords:
Libertarian Paternalism; Nudge; Deontologism; Consequencialism; Freedom of Choice