Killing and Letting Die 2400-OG-EN-KLD

Complete description of the subject The course critically discusses the morality and legality of killing and letting die. Its main focus is to reveal and analyze various problems and questions surrounding the doctrine of killing and letting die doctrine, the doctrine of doing and allowing doctrine, the doctrine of double effect, various accounts of self-defense, the balance of evils justification, the distinction between excusing and justifying conditions, the distinction between action, omission, prevention, double prevention, causation as well as some selected applications of the said doctrines and notions such as the problem of abortion, active and passive euthanasia, imperfect self-defense, innocent threats, innocent shields, ducking harm, accelerating death, redirecting death threats etc. These issues are approached from the point of view of the contemporary analytical philosophy and its classical essays written by its prominent exponents dealing with the problem of the morality of killing: Ph. Foot, J.J. Thomson, W. Quinn, J. McMahan, M. Otsuka, K. Kessler Ferzan, M.S. Moore etc. The course comprises the following topics and their textual basis:
1. Introduction: Killing and Letting Die.
2. Self-Defense: The Rights-Based Account
Obligatory reading: Thomson, J.J. 1991. Self-defense. Philosophy and Public Affairs 20(4): 283-310.
3. Self-Defense: The Problem of Innocent Threats
Obligatory reading: Otsuka, Michael (1994), “Killing the Innocent in Self-Defense,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, 23(1): 74-94.
4. Self-Defense: The Responsibility Account
Obligatory reading: McMahan, J. 2005. The Basis of Moral Liability to Defensive Killing. Philosophical Issues 15: 386-405.
5. Self-Defense: Objective and Subjective
Obligatory reading: Ferzan Kessler, K. 2005. Justifying Self-Defense. Law and Philosophy 24: 711-749.
6. Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect
Obligatory reading: Foot, Ph. 1995. The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect. In: Killing and letting die, edited by B. Steinbock and A. Norcross. New York: Fordham University Press.
7. The Trolley Problem
Obligatory reading: Thomson, J.J. 1985. The trolley problem. Yale Law Journal 94(6): 1395-1415.
8. Abortion and the Violinist
Obligatory reading: Thomson, J.J. 1971. A defense of abortion. Philosophy and Public Affairs 1(1): 47-66.
9. Ducking Harm
Obligatory reading: Boorse, C., R. Sorensen. 1988. Ducking harm. Journal of Philosophy 85(3): 115-134.
10. The Doctrine of Active and Passive Euthanasia
Obligatory reading: Rachels J. 1995. Active and Passive Euthanasia. In: Killing and letting die, edited by B. Steinbock and A. Norcross. New York: Fordham University Press.
11. The Doctrine of Doing and Allowing
Obligatory reading: Quinn, W. 1995. Actions, Intentions, and Consequences: The Doctrine of Doing and Allowing. In: Killing and letting die, edited by B. Steinbock and A. Norcross. New York: Fordham University Press.
12. The Doctrine of Killing and Letting Die
Obligatory reading: Foot, P. 1994. Killing and allowing to die. In: Killing and letting die, edited by B. Steinbock and A. Norcross, 280-289. New York: Fordham University Press.
13. Removing Defense to Death
Obligatory reading: McMahan, J. 1995. Killing, Letting Die, and Withdrawing Aid. In: Killing and letting die, edited by B. Steinbock and A. Norcross. New York: Fordham University Press.
14. Withdrawing Aid and Causing Death
Obligatory reading: Obligatory reading: McGee, A. 2014. Does withdrawing life-sustaining treatment cause death or allow the patient to die. Medical Law Review 22(1): 26-47.
15. Two Ways to Kill
Obligatory reading: Bronner, B. 2018. Two ways to kill a patient. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 43(1): 44-63.