PHIL 213 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Jonathan Glover
Document Summary
Some believe it is wrong in all circumstances. Others believe that in special circumstances, killing may be justified. Assumption is that killing can at best only be justified to avoid a greater evil. It is not obvious to many people what the answer is to the question why is killing wrong? . It is not clear whether the wrongness of killing should be treated as a kind of moral axiom, or whether it can be explained by appealing to some more fundamental principle or set of principles. One common view is that some principle of sanctity of life has to be included among the ultimate principles of any acceptable moral system. In order to evaluate the view that life is sacred it is necessary to distinguish between two different kinds of objection to killing: direct objections and those based on side-effects. Direct objections to killing are those that relate solely to the person killed.
