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How to (Consistently) Reject the Options Argument

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2021

Stephen M. Campbell Open the ORCID record for Stephen M. Campbell [Opens in a new window] ,
Joseph A. Stramondo  and
David Wasserman
Stephen M. Campbell
Affiliation:
Bentley University
Joseph A. Stramondo
Affiliation:
San Diego State University
David Wasserman
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
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Abstract

It is commonly thought that disability is a harm or “bad difference” because having a disability restricts valuable options in life. In his recent essay “Disability, Options and Well-Being,” Thomas Crawley offers a novel defense of this style of reasoning (formulated as the Options Argument) and argues that we and like-minded critics of this brand of argument are guilty of an inconsistency. Our aim in this article is to explain why our view avoids inconsistency, to challenge Crawley's positive defense of the Options Argument, and to suggest that this general line of reasoning employs a double standard.

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Utilitas , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 237 - 245
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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