The Wrong Way to Protect Small Business
Posted: 6 Aug 2020
Date Written: July 26, 2020
Abstract
This is the first in a series of essays exploring a range of philosophical issues that arise in ordinary life that will ultimately be revised for publication in a book that will also include a broadly diverse set of essays and reflections, e.g. including philosophical methodology, the nature of representation and fidelity in audio systems. The book will also include music and audio reviews.
Subsequent essays in this series explore philosophical issues that arise from the major league baseball sign stealing scandal, the disqualification of Maximum Security in the Kentucky Derby, the morality and legal impact of waivers being required by Trump rally-goers and College and University boarders during COVID-19 pandemic. Another essay treads on somewhat more familiar ground – the Trolley Problem – as seen through a very different lens, however, as I identify three distinct sets of trolley problems that arise from the fact pattern of the original one, but that appear to have gone unnoticed to this point.
The current essay explores the legislation currently contemplated in the US Senate designed to immunize small business owners from lawsuits brought by customers alleging to have been infected with the virus while on the premises. I argue that this is the wrong way to subsidize small business.
Keywords: liability, insurance, COVID-19, justice, risk, health
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