Composing, defending, and publishing a thesis is required to graduate as an Honors College Fellow at my Alma Mater. Despite pursuing a degree in Communication Studies - Rhetoric, I proposed a research question rooted in Political Philosophy. There is much overlap in the practices of rhetoric and philosophy, so the process felt like a natural extension of my major-specific research efforts.
One of my favorite stories from college is that, due to the topic of my thesis, John Locke's "Second treatise of government" played a crucial role in several arguments, meaning I cited (Locke, 1689) in multiple spots. Further, my thesis was an extension of two of my previous works, meaning I also cited (Locke, 2019) frequently. The repeatedly switching in-text citations led to my advisor calling me in frustration to ask me to change how I formatted them to make it easier to understand the context of each at a glance.
Another (not so) fun fact I like to share about my thesis is that I wrote approximately 80% of it in only 4 days. The root cause of this procrastination was a depressive state I entered in the first year of the pandemic. Considering the short time frame in which I compiled my thesis, I am pleasantly surprised by the result as I re-read it today, June 19, 2026. I have nitpicks I might explore in a future critique of my thesis, but I am happy enough with how it reflects who I was at the time that I am sharing it in this article.
In closing, I want to extend my sincerest appreciation to my former professors as I reflect on the flexibility and kindness they provided as I struggled to balance mental health concerns with an exhausting job and heavy course workloads.
Abstract
In this thesis, I propose a framework through which laws may be analyzed to give a baselevel judgment of the law’s justifiability. According to this framework, a law must be outward-facing, motivated by something other than personal morality or religious ideology, and have a punishment equal to the action it prohibits to be justifiable. I then use this framework to analyze several laws classified as paternalistic in nature throughout the United States. First analyzed is cannabis prohibition laws, which fail all three tenets of the framework and is thus deemed unjustifiable. Next analyzed are seatbelt and motorcycle helmet requirements, which are also marked unjustifiable. Finally, coercive censorship is examined through the framework, also being rated unjustifiable. After using the framework to argue against the justification of these laws, I then employ the framework to show how mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic are justifiable.
Link to my Thesis in MTSU's Thesis Repo