Ufuk Özbe
FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg
Is sex by deception always a serious wrong? It is, as long as the deception relates to a fact that, if known to the partner, would have been a dealbreaker, no matter how irrelevant the fact may seem. That is the dealbreaker view, notably propounded by Dougherty (2013). In my talk, I will reexamine this view in light of new arguments. First, I defend the dealbreaker view against recent attacks, thereby fortifying its stance. Second, I distill the kernel of truth from these attacks proposing a limitation to the dealbreaker view.
Green (2020) criticizes the dealbreaker approach by reviving the old distinction between fraud in the factum and fraud in the inducement. On this counterview, only deception about the nature of the interaction (factum) invalidates consent. Deception about surrounding facts (inducement), by contrast, may constitute separate wrongs, but consent remains valid. If X, who has HIV, deceives Y about this fact and infects them through sex, X commits a serious wrong. However, Y’s consent to sex remains valid as they were not deceived about the nature of the sexual contact. X violates Y’s bodily integrity, not their sexual self-determination. Thus, on this counterview, the dealbreaker approach, which sees the wrong in nonconsensual sex, conflates distinct objects of moral protection. Plausible as it seems on the surface, I reject this counterview by arguing that it is never the object itself (e.g., bodily integrity, property) but the person’s self-determination over it that deserves protection. I also offer an explanation of said apparent plausibility.
However, the counterview does contain some truth: interference obtained by fraud in the factum constitutes, all else equal, a greater wrong than interference by fraud in the inducement. In the latter case, sex by deception is a serious wrong only if the deception concerns a strong dealbreaker. To assess dealbreaker strength, I refine a metric proposed by Manson (2017).
Chair: M. Hadi Fazeli
Time: September 8th, 11:20-11:50
Location: SR 1.005
SOPhiA 2026 