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The Ethics of Wearing a Face Mask in a Pandemic
Individual Freedom vs Collective Safety
A nationwide mandate to wear face masks does not infringe on the liberties of the individual because of the more prescient obligation to not cause harm to citizens.
But let me show you how.
The cost of allowing for freedom outweighs the benefit of preventing harm.
The problem with liberty, as many thinkers have addressed, is that providing liberty to some may infringe on the liberties of others.
It is difficult to find a place of compromise in order to satisfy everyone.
In other words, the individual can feel threatened by the desire to meet the needs of the collective.
One example that testifies to this reality is the protests to nationwide mandates for wearing face masks in response to the global pandemic of 2020.
Why Protestors Are Protesting
Protestors who argue against face masks are reasoning in line with many classical liberals such as John Locke, Herbert Spencer, and F.A. Hayek who argue for variations of negative liberty.
