Plato's Theory Of Vaccination Research Paper

Vaccinations Required?

Recently high population of unvaccinated children on the West Coast has led to outbreaks of whooping cough and the measles amongst children as discussed in articles by Alexandra Sifferlin and Dan Diamond. Part of what has caused the outbreaks, according Sifferlin, is that unvaccinated children transmitted the diseases to children who are unable to receive vaccinations because of age, illness (particularly autoimmune disorders) and other health conditions). Typically children who are unable to be vaccinated are protected by the concept of herding. Herding, the idea that if most or all people who are healthy enough to receive vaccinations are vaccinated, then those who cannot be vaccinated, are protected from getting

sick because there is such a low number of people around them with the possibility of carrying the unwanted illness. Unfortunately, herding does not work if the amount of people who are not vaccinated reaches higher numbers than those who are vaccinated. Lately there has been a lot of talk about the government implementing stricter policies regarding vaccinations and possibly requiring all eligible children (excluding those who have a qualifying health condition). This paper will examine the theories of well-known philosophers Thomas Hobbes, Plato, and John Rawls and discuss whether these philosophers would approve of requiring all eligible children to receive vaccination. In addition, for the purpose of this paper when you see society please assume that the author is also referring to the government as well.
Thomas Hobbes was an early 1600’s philosopher whose development of the concepts of equality and natural rights had a great influence on Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. Hobbes after seeing the abundance of fighting and violence the occurred in the late 16th and early 17th century, he decided that the source of all the problems in the world come from the Church and State (King). Therefore, he concluded that government must only exist to serve its most basic purposes. According to Hobbes, those purposes were to provide safety and happiness. Hobbes’ political theory has three key concepts to it. The first is without any sort of society or government the state of nature is war, where everyone is against everyone. Meaning that without rules or standards to live by people will always be conquering each other no matter how many people group together. The second key concept for Hobbes is that since the above is true then in order for people to achieve their ultimate goal of natural rights (safety and happiness) there must be a government. In addition, it is the government’s main goal to provide its people with a safe place to live where the citizens can pursuit happiness. Hobbes final key concept is that it is in the best interest of everyone to agree to contractually surrender certain rights in order to maintain the society’s (country’s) natural rights and liberties. In line with all of his three key concepts Hobbes believes that people should have the right to do anything necessary to survive and achieve safety and happiness.
Based on the above it is clear that Thomas Hobbes’ position on the issue of requiring vaccinations would, be no there should not be a requirement for vaccines. In fact, one might argue that Hobbes might not even allow parents to vaccinate their children at all. Hobbes’ main issue with vaccinations would be that there is small chance that the medication could cause a person harm. This is due to chemicals as such mercury and other dangerous substances used to preserve the vaccine ("Parents' Guide to Childhood Immunizations," 2015). Since Hobbes believes that people should try to survive by any means necessary, he would not be in favor of requiring children to be vaccinated. One could also argue that because Hobbes promoted the idea of having people contractually authorize any of their rights/liberties to be denied to them, he would have no problem banning everyone from vaccines due to limited but potential danger. On the other hand, Hobbes also has a deep belief in equality that would possibly persuade him to make vaccination an option instead of a requirement.
Plato is a very well-known ancient Greek philosopher. He was a student of Socrates (arguably the first great philosopher) and the teacher of Aristotle (an equally great thinker whose work in philosophy and the sciences are still used today). Plato spoke on many subjects including politics. Plato was a firm believer in justice and equality, which to him meant fairness and proper portions. He believed that there were three kinds of people in the world, wise people, who were only concerned with rational thought, merchants who were only concerned with the desire to have possessions, money, and guardians who were only concerned with ambition and safety. Each type according to Plato was completely necessary for a successful society. He saw society or government like this; ration was the person on the chariot steering, while desire and ambition are the horses that lead the chariot forward. Hence, a harmonious society requires all three personalities to co-exist and of everyone to do what they are best at (i.e. the wise do rational jobs and merchants sell things). Plato even goes as far as saying that children should be taken away from their parents at a young age so that they may pursue an occupation that is of themselves not their families. Plato saw this as a solution to scenarios where children with personality different from their parents could still work in the field that best suited them. While this may seem harsh, Plato justified this by saying that it was in the best interest of the society, which in ancient Athens was all that mattered. To Athenians there is no greater enemy that one that poses as a threat to their community. Keep in mind that Athens officials arranged for Plato’s teacher Socrates to be killed because he was undermining Athenian society by embarrassing the high-ranking officials around the schoolchildren.
Based on the above it is clear that Plato’s positions on requiring parents to vaccinate their children would be yes. In fact, in Plato’s perfect world children as mentioned earlier, would be removed from their parent’s custody at a young age in order to train in their appropriate fields. Hence, it is not hard to imagine that Plato would view Athenians parents as has having little control over the lives of their children. In addition, Plato like all Athenians views the community and the safety of the community to be extremely important. As previously, mentioned Athenians have no problem killing their own (though technically Socrates was blackmailed into suicide). Therefore, it is obvious that Plato would want all citizens, children, and adult alike, to be vaccinated because it would be for the greater good of the community. The diseases that we vaccinate against have devastating effects, often leading to widespread death. Plato would much rather take the chance of a very few people dying from vaccine complications than allow hundreds of people died and possible risk the destruction of their society over something that could be prevented.
John Rawls, 1921 to 2002, was an American philosopher who discovered his theory during his military service in World War II. After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Rawls was one of many trying to help reform Japan. Japan never formally surrendered at the end of World War II; their pride and cultural honor system deeply frowned upon surrender. It was this cultural honor code that made reforming Japan difficult. Obviously, the Allied Forces (particularly the United States) wanted Japan to have a democracy. Unfortunately, Japanese culture, and democracy did not match up very easily. From this challenge, Rawls concluded that best way to look at a problem (particular a political problem) is to look at the problem from a completely original perspective or as he says “under a veil of ignorance”. This method allows one to better understand how other groups with completely different backgrounds from the decision maker’s can be affected by the outcomes of one’s decisions. The next in Rawls's process is reflective equilibrium. This is where one makes sure that the outs of the decisions being made are fair to everyone. Fairness was very important to Rawls and is a cornerstone in his theory. The final piece in his theory is the principles of liberty and freedom (very similar to the first amendment of the United State Constitution) and of difference. For Rawls the idea of freedom is limited by it effect on others and there are threshold holds that can not be crossed.
Based on above it is clear that Rawls' position on vaccine regulation is that parents should be able to choose whether their children receive vaccinations. This decision is based off of his firm belief in fairness and looking a situation with personal prejudices. However, due to Rawls’ notion that that freedom (and fairness) can be limited if it’s affect is too negative on other people, one can also argue that Rawls would also enforce district opt out rules for parents who choose not have their children vaccinated. For example, Rawls would not view parents’ concerns about the trace amounts of mercury and such in the vaccinations and other non-religious reason as legitimate, However he would view religious concerns and opt outs as legitimate, because not only of this belief in fairness but because of his belief in the first amendment of the United State Constitution.
The conclusions based on the theories of all three philosophers, John Rawls, Thomas Hobbes, and Plato are different, yet similar.

Each had a unique viewpoint on how the government should handle vaccine regulation. Both Plato and Hobbes are absolute about their stances. While their opinions are opposite of each other, both Plato and Hobbes would want to remove parental decision-making rights, in favor of government decision. However, one could also argue that Hobbes’ principles of equality would give parents the decision making power much like Rawls’ theory does. In contrast, both Plato and Rawls both want to allow vaccination regulations but Rawls wants to allow for exception in the name fairness. Interestingly, Thomas Hobbes is the only one who would not want any or limited government involve on the

problem.
In summary, conclusions based off John Rawls’ political theory are most applicable to current day America.

His tolerance of different religions works well with the United States’ overall belief system. In addition, the diseases the vaccinations help with are just too dangerous to allow the conclusions based on Hobbes’ political theory to be implement. Not vaccinating the entire country is simply not an option. It would result in a large increase of infancy and childhood mortality. Neither is forcing the every citizen to be vaccinated like how the conclusions based off of Plato’s political theories advocates for. Such proposal would be deemed unconditional immediately. Hence, it is Rawls’ political theory that the United States government needs to look at when reforming vaccination regulation. Unfortunately, the nature of the United State (its large amount of diversity both culturally and religiously) does not allow for a simple answers to problem of vaccination regulations. The members of Congress who draft the new regulations will have to balance the citizens Constitutional rights with the needs and safety of the people. Therefore, while they should uses the conclusion based on Rawls’ theory to outline their plan. This would be create the strongest regulation reform and would benefit the most citizen while still protect other citizen’s religious

freedoms.