Work can enable people to get consumption items, develop capacities, socialise, contribute to society, give direction to their lives, gain knowledge, and foster their self-esteem and self-respect. This paper outlines a normative argument for policies supporting workers’ access to these goods and refines it by responding to the objection that the policies would involve wrongful paternalism. 

The policies are acceptable if they are part of a moral scheme oriented by principles of social justice, violate no basic liberties, offer strong overall support for self-determination, and do not involve disrespect for people, even if true judgments about their limitations are expressed.

Pablo Gilabert is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada). His areas of specialisation are social and political philosophy and ethics. Within these areas, his research and teaching focus on topics in social justice and human rights. His interests include distributive justice, democracy, contractualist theories in normative ethics, the Frankfurt School tradition of critical theory, Kant’s practical philosophy, and Marxism and socialism.