PHILOS 341 Lecture Notes - Deontological Ethics, Thought Experiment
How we use killing and letting die in ordinary language
Killing: causal intervention – death
- To kill someone is to causally intervene in someone’s life so the end result is that they
are ultimately dead
- The death would not have happened without your action
Letting Die: avoidance of causal intervention
- When you don’t causally intervene and let someone die
- these are neutral
Evaluating whether something is blameworthy, permissible, etc. (pg. 86-87)
1. What was the actor’s intention or motivation?
a. Let’s say we are at grandma’s house and you accidently knock a picture off the
table. You say “oh I’m so sorry” and you feel bad. Let’s say there’s another action
where you say “grandma that food sucked” and you knock the plate on the table.
Do doctors mean to cause their patients harm or do they want to help them out?
2. Patient’s refusal of treatment/request for euthanasia
3. Balance of benefits and harms
4. Consequences of the Act
a. What are the consequences for the society at large? For the healthcare system?
Failed attempt to explain killing and letting die
- killing involves an agent causality. Killing is something that human beings do.
- letting die involves death by natural causes (disease, injury). By contrast, letting die is
letting nature take its course.
- THIS IS WRONG EX. MR. MAFIA AND MR. POLICEMEN (thought experiment) – were
going to test an application of an idea to see if the argument gives us the results we
would want or not
Mr. Mafia and Mr. Policemen
- Mr. Mafia goes over and removes Mr. Policemen from life support – you would say Mr.
Mafia killed Mr. Policemen.
oMr. Mafia either didn’t kill and let him die
oOr physicians always kill when they take people off life support
oWhat do we do? We are missing an important information – justifiability
omission or unjustifiable omission
Thus, there will be 2 types of justification:
1. Relief from suffering
2. Patients voluntary, informed request to terminate life
Valid Refusal of Treatment
- Provides us with the basis of “letting die”
- If there is valid refusal of care: this is a case of letting die
- If the valid refusal of care Is absent (not there): this is a case of killing
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Document Summary
How we use killing and letting die in ordinary language. To kill someone is to causally intervene in someone"s life so the end result is that they are ultimately dead. The death would not have happened without your action. When you don"t causally intervene and let someone die. Evaluating whether something is blameworthy, permissible, etc. (pg. 86-87: what was the actor"s intention or motivation, let"s say we are at grandma"s house and you accidently knock a picture off the table. You say oh i"m so sorry and you feel bad. Let"s say there"s another action where you say grandma that food sucked and you knock the plate on the table. Failed attempt to explain killing and letting die killing involves an agent causality. Killing is something that human beings do. letting die involves death by natural causes (disease, injury). By contrast, letting die is letting nature take its course.
