The Successful Communication Principle

Abstract

This chapter introduces the case for the ‘Successful Communication Principle’ for the scope of consent, according to which an action falls within the scope of someone’s consent when the consent-giver successfully communicates an intention to permit this action. This principle pairs with a view of consent as consisting in successful communication between the consent-giver and the consent-receiver. This principle and view can be motivated by the Control Argument, which appeals to the idea that an agent wrongs a victim by acting in the victim’s personal domain in a way that the victim does not control. For a consent-giver to control a consent-receiver’s conduct in virtue of the consent-receiver being guided by their consent, there must be successful communication between the consent-giver and the consent-receiver.