Il paternalismo, tra «proibizione» e «disciplinamento»: un percorso critico nella letteratura contemporanea

Paternalism between «Prohibition» and «Discipline. A Critical Path in Contemporary Literature
Starting from the recent theorization of Thaler and Sunstein’s «libertarian paternalism» – and from recent policies of nudging that it has inspired, implemented from 2008 onwards by some states, including Great Britain and the United States –, the paper proposes a recognition of the philosophical-political literature on the topic of contemporary paternalism, highlighting the connections between it and the recent advances in the fields of behavioral psychology and neuroscience.By privileging a critical approach, supported by a brief glimpse on that twentieth-century thought that investigated the aporias of concepts such as «autonomy», «freedom» and «judgment», the paper suggests that both theories and policies inspired by the libertarian paternalism can be read as instruments of discipline in the broader context of neoliberal governmentality of social and economic crises.
Keywords: libertarian paternalism, disciplining, behavioral psychology, austerity
Parole chiave: paternalismo libertario, disciplinamento, psicologia comportamentista, austerità