Informed consent is not the most fundamental ethical standard, but a means of securing respect for other, more basic standards or aims. It is neither possible nor required when public goods – such as sound currency or clean air – are to be provided. Where it is possible and can be required, as in transactions with individuals, it must be tailored to their cognitive capacities. Genuine, legitimating consent is demanding, and is not achieved by the ‘tick and click’ approaches used in many commercial transactions.
Onora O’Neill is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, a crossbench member of the House of Lords and the current chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Jonathan Wolff is Professor of Philosophy at University College London.
Peter Dennis is an LSE Fellow in the department of Philosophy at LSE.
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