# Should governments moralize health?

## TL;DR

The paper discusses whether governments should use moral arguments to influence health, arguing that targeting individuals is unethical, while promoting collective health goals may be acceptable under strict conditions.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a framework for evaluating the moral acceptability of government moralizing health based on framing and target.

## Key findings

- Moralizing health by targeting individuals or behaviors, especially negatively, is considered morally unacceptable.
- Positive moralizing aimed at promoting a healthy society may be more acceptable if it meets specific ethical conditions.
- Governments should avoid excessive moralizing and ensure health outcomes are equally achievable for all citizens.

## Abstract

Health is often moralized not only by individuals, but also by governments, which was particularly conspicuous during the COVID‐19 pandemic. This paper addresses the ethics of whether governments should moralize health. It first introduces a definition of moralizing health. It then distinguishes between different ways of moralizing health that affect its moral acceptability, including negative or positive framing, as well as different potential targets toward which moralizing may be directed: (1) persons, (2) behavior, or (3) society. It concludes that targeting individual persons and behavior, especially negatively, is morally unacceptable. Positive moralizing about a healthy society by governments may be more acceptable, but important conditions remain. Governments should not single out individuals or groups and moralizing should not be excessive. Moralized health outcomes should be equally achievable by all citizens and implementation of moral frames should be grounded in robust evidence that it will bring about desired outcomes (i.e., a healthier society) without being harmful or counterproductive. In short, governments should be very cautious about moralizing health. If one of the basic tasks of governments is to protect collective health, this is all too easily undermined by undue moralizing.

This paper provides a discussion of the ethics of governments moralizing health that accounts for different ways of framing—negative or positive—as well as different potential targets: persons, behavior, or society. It argues that moralizing health becomes more acceptable as it moves away from singling out individuals and toward promoting positive collective health goals, even if important risks and conditions for its moral acceptability remain.