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Full Idea
The doctrine of double effect offers us a way out [of the trolley problem], insisting that it is one thing to steer towards someone foreseeing that you will kill him, and another to aim at his death as part of your plan.
Gist of Idea
Double effect says foreseeing you will kill someone is not the same as intending it
Source
Philippa Foot (Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect [1967], p.23)
Book Ref
Foot,Philippa: 'Virtues and Vices' [Blackwell 1981], p.23
A Reaction
[She has just created her famous Trolley Problem]. Utilitarians must constantly rely on the doctrine of double effect, as they calculate their trade-offs.
Related Idea
Idea 22385 The doctrine of double effect can excuse an outcome because it wasn't directly intended [Foot]
| 22383 | Abortion is puzzling because we do and don't want the unborn child to have rights [Foot] |
| 22384 | A 'double effect' is a foreseen but not desired side-effect, which may be forgivable [Foot] |
| 22385 | The doctrine of double effect can excuse an outcome because it wasn't directly intended [Foot] |
| 22386 | Double effect says foreseeing you will kill someone is not the same as intending it [Foot] |
| 22387 | Without double effect, bad men can make us do evil by threatening something worse [Foot] |
| 22388 | Double effect seems to rely on a distinction between what we do and what we allow [Foot] |