Eric Rakowski
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198240792
- eISBN:
- 9780191680274
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198240792.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter considers the moral relevance of the number of people who could be saved by one action rather than another. It concentrates on the question whether one group's being more numerous than ...
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This chapter considers the moral relevance of the number of people who could be saved by one action rather than another. It concentrates on the question whether one group's being more numerous than another gives rise to a duty or an obligation to save the lives of its members in preference to those of persons belonging to the smaller group if it is impossible to rescue everyone. The chapter begins by reviewing the salient arguments for the moral irrelevance of numbers, before turning to some of the more forceful objections to this position. It also examines several arguments for the claim that numbers matter. It then attempts to plug deficiencies in them by defending the view that rescuers ought to save as many lives as they can, without relying on the premise that it is objectively worse if more people die than if fewer perish.Less
This chapter considers the moral relevance of the number of people who could be saved by one action rather than another. It concentrates on the question whether one group's being more numerous than another gives rise to a duty or an obligation to save the lives of its members in preference to those of persons belonging to the smaller group if it is impossible to rescue everyone. The chapter begins by reviewing the salient arguments for the moral irrelevance of numbers, before turning to some of the more forceful objections to this position. It also examines several arguments for the claim that numbers matter. It then attempts to plug deficiencies in them by defending the view that rescuers ought to save as many lives as they can, without relying on the premise that it is objectively worse if more people die than if fewer perish.
Eric Rakowski
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198240792
- eISBN:
- 9780191680274
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198240792.003.0014
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter focuses on the permissibility of killing innocents in peacetime who, at the time of their deaths, do not willingly offer their lives to benefit others. Beginning with the question ...
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This chapter focuses on the permissibility of killing innocents in peacetime who, at the time of their deaths, do not willingly offer their lives to benefit others. Beginning with the question whether it is morally permissible in a just society to kill innocent people to advance others' welfare, the chapter defends a variant of a maximizing policy in the context of public law enforcement, but argues against its extension to most other domains. The justifiability of killing persons belonging to alien groups to help members of one's own society is then considered. This discussion includes a moral assessment of the slaughter of nonhuman mammals for therapeutic, educational, and nutritional purposes, as well as remarks on the exploitation of foreign peoples.Less
This chapter focuses on the permissibility of killing innocents in peacetime who, at the time of their deaths, do not willingly offer their lives to benefit others. Beginning with the question whether it is morally permissible in a just society to kill innocent people to advance others' welfare, the chapter defends a variant of a maximizing policy in the context of public law enforcement, but argues against its extension to most other domains. The justifiability of killing persons belonging to alien groups to help members of one's own society is then considered. This discussion includes a moral assessment of the slaughter of nonhuman mammals for therapeutic, educational, and nutritional purposes, as well as remarks on the exploitation of foreign peoples.
