tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post6633577702145522414..comments2024-03-28T19:56:42.305-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Saving lives and killingAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-62392698160806511412015-07-29T23:50:59.377-05:002015-07-29T23:50:59.377-05:00"The most glaring cases of saving a life are ..."The most glaring cases of saving a life are cases of supererogation. The person who leaps before a train to push a child out of the way at the cost of her own life is certainly saving a life, and we are confident that a failure to leap wouldn't be a killing. (But it would be hard to live with the knowledge that one could have leapt but didn't have the courage.) So here we have clarity in both judgments."<br /><br />A paradigm-case of moral heroism. But how would you distinguish that from suicide? The double effect principle?stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16547070544928321788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-43840710527841876392015-07-27T16:34:09.142-05:002015-07-27T16:34:09.142-05:00Heath:
Good points, all.Heath:<br /><br />Good points, all.Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-3676760080635463322015-07-27T10:35:30.170-05:002015-07-27T10:35:30.170-05:00I like this general idea. Some thoughts:
1. Qui...I like this general idea. Some thoughts:<br /><br />1. Quick, obvious objection: trimming my fingernails is such that omission of it would not be a killing, but I am not saving anyone’s life. You need to quantify over actions where lives are at stake, or include a clause about someone dying, etc.<br /><br />2. There will be problems with finkish cases and overdetermined cases of killing/saving.<br /><br />3. I imagine a similar principle goes for less-than-lethal considerations. Maybe we call the relevant concepts ‘harm’ and ‘benefit’, and say an action is a benefit iff its omission would not be a harm. E.g. reconstruct the battery case so it will not kill the buyer but only injure her. Curiously, my intuitions are not as crisp in these cases. Maybe that is a problem with concepts of harm and benefit. Or maybe a problem with me.<br />Heath Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13535886546816778688noreply@blogger.com