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Wellman’s argument is largely based on the concept of freedom of association. At the start of his essay, Wellman made some points about freedom of association: “freedom of association is widely thought to be important [and] it includes the right not to associate and even, in many cases, the right to disassociate”. Wellman suggests that one might have interest in who joins their golf club because they have concerns over membership rules and policies as well as club organization. New members who enter the club might be involved in these decisions, so current members would only want to allow new members who they feel would share or improve upon their beliefs to join. One example of this that Wellman provides is the number of members. While some people might prefer a large number of members in the group to lower the costs, other members might prefer to pay more for a less impacted club that would result in more available tee times and more pristine courses. Differences such as this could give members an interest in controlling who does and does not join a golf club.
In his writing, A Theory of Freedom of Expression, Scanlon defines an autonomous person as one who “cannot accept without independent consideration the judgment of others as to what he should believe or what he should do. He may rely on the judgment of others, but when he does so he must be prepared to advance independent reasons for thinking their judgment likely to be correct, and to weigh the evidential value of their opinion against contrary evidence” . Scanlon further believes that an autonomous individual will determine whether or not to perform an action that is required by law based “only by his own decision, which may take into account his current assessment of the general case for obedience and the exceptions it admits, consideration of his other duties and obligations, and his estimate of the consequences of obedience and disobedience in this particular case”.
In his writing, A Theory of Freedom of Expression, Scanlon defines an autonomous person as one who “cannot accept without independent consideration the judgment of others as to what he should believe or what he should do. He may rely on the judgment of others, but when he does so he must be prepared to advance independent reasons for thinking their judgment likely to be correct, and to weigh the evidential value of their opinion against contrary evidence” . Scanlon further believes that an autonomous individual will determine whether or not to perform an action that is required by law based “only by his own decision, which may take into account his current assessment of the general case for obedience and the exceptions it admits, consideration of his other duties and obligations, and his estimate of the consequences of obedience and disobedience in this particular case”.
