Undergraduate thesis looks at refusal to vaccinate as a moral and philosophical problem. It tries to illuminate specific tactics, discourses and rationalisations of anti-vaccination movements. The author finds that refusal to vaccinate began along with invention of vaccines. She argues that the law, which mandates mandatory vaccination in Slovenia, is needed and morally justified. She identifies the vaccination question as complex, because it lays at an intersection between personal autonomy and collective good. She uses multi-layered approach to answering the question of autonomy in regards to vaccination and uses the works of some acclaimed philosophers. With quotes from interviews she conducted, she tries to illustrate complexity and resilience of some anti-vaxers rationalisations. She finds, that anecdotal evidence has the greatest power to be used as propaganda and compares anti-vaccination ideology to workings of a cult. This comparison, she argues, is justified for the case of anti-vaccination movement. Through the whole thesis, she uses official scientific literature, because she believes, that scientific method in the case of vaccination does not have any legitimate alternatives.
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