I grew up knowing “privilege” to mean a special right that was granted to you based on your job/role (like free food for those who work at some restaurants) or perhaps granted by authorities due to good behavior (and would be taken away for misusing it). Note also that the word itself, “privi”-”lege”, means “private law”: a law that applies to you in particular.
Rights and laws are social things, defined by how others treat you. To say that your physical health is a privilege therefore seems like either a category error, or a claim that other people treated you better in a way that gave you your better physical health, which then raises questions like “What made you deserve that treatment?” or perhaps “Is it really because of how other people treated you, or other reasons like genetics or having made healthier life choices?”. The latter may then lead to “Yeah, but you grew up being taught better and/or in a situation where healthy choices were more affordable, which are probably partly caused by wealth and are privilege”, both of which might be counter-argued in the specific person’s case or in general, and so on. Social justice arguments ensue.
“Advantage” seems like a more neutral term, one that doesn’t inherently imply fairness-laden claims about how you got it. I would recommend it.
I grew up knowing “privilege” to mean a special right that was granted to you based on your job/role (like free food for those who work at some restaurants) or perhaps granted by authorities due to good behavior (and would be taken away for misusing it). Note also that the word itself, “privi”-”lege”, means “private law”: a law that applies to you in particular.
Rights and laws are social things, defined by how others treat you. To say that your physical health is a privilege therefore seems like either a category error, or a claim that other people treated you better in a way that gave you your better physical health, which then raises questions like “What made you deserve that treatment?” or perhaps “Is it really because of how other people treated you, or other reasons like genetics or having made healthier life choices?”. The latter may then lead to “Yeah, but you grew up being taught better and/or in a situation where healthy choices were more affordable, which are probably partly caused by wealth and are privilege”, both of which might be counter-argued in the specific person’s case or in general, and so on. Social justice arguments ensue.
“Advantage” seems like a more neutral term, one that doesn’t inherently imply fairness-laden claims about how you got it. I would recommend it.