Can government or any other entity enforce rationality on humans without affecting the course of justice? The poser was subject of the discourse at the Forum for Intellectual Entrepreneur organised by African Liberty Organisation last Sunday. The seminar was held in the hall of Methodist Primary School, Oshodi, Lagos.
Emile Phaneuf, a libertarian from the United States, who delivered a paper titled Defending liberty against arguments of human irrationality, believed that by nature, humans are rational and are free to be irrational, saying government did not have a right to help people think rationally in choosing choices. He said if people could choose from ranges of options without interference from the government, why would any entity or authority claim to possess a right to enforce rationality.
He said rational model of decision in International Relations held that all levels of decision-makers made decision rationally by weighing options, calculating risks and competing interests, from which best or the least bad option would be chosen. The framework, he said, should be used as model to predict human behaviour at all levels.
Phaneuf dismissed the argument put forward in Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness co-authored by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, that it is possible to steer people's choices in the direction that will improve their lives. He said influencing people's choice would make them lose their freedom to choose independently.
Using drug addiction to explain rationality, Phaneuf said a drug addict preferred a short-term pleasure to a long-term health, adding that nobody could contest the choice because the drug user would have weighed various rational options before taking to drug.
He said: "If human are irrational, then it could be said that governments are run by irrationally-behaving humans and factions with many competing interests. Why then do government officials want to force irrational decision on other?"
Concluding, Phaneuf noted: "When government operates outside the boundaries of protecting justice, justice itself is sacrificed. Life, liberty and property are sacrificed. If man was irrational before, try allowing any person or entity including government to think for him for a decade or two and then grant him his freedom, you will find that irrationality becomes more normalised than ever."
Earlier, the convener, Mr Dayo Thomas, said the seminar was held to promote entrepreneurship among the youths, stressing that without freedom to choose, there would not be liberty and justice in the society. Participants at the seminar included Corps members, students and industry professionals.
