more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
I am arguing that, if someone's life is worth living, this is one reason why it is directly wrong to kill him.
Gist of Idea
If someone's life is 'worth living', that gives one direct reason not to kill him
Source
Jonathan Glover (Causing Death and Saving Lives [1977], §3.7)
Book Ref
Glover,Jonathan: 'Causing Death and Saving Lives' [Penguin 1982], p.53
A Reaction
This is an attempt to find a modern utilitarian criterion of value. A problem case would be someone for whom only sadism made their life worth living.
| 7907 | Human killing is worse if the victim is virtuous [Buddhaghosa] |
| 6832 | Killing a human, except as just punishment, is like killing all mankind [Mohammed] |
| 6825 | Do not kill except for a just cause [Mohammed] |
| 4649 | If someone's life is 'worth living', that gives one direct reason not to kill him [Glover] |
| 4651 | Utilitarians object to killing directly (pain, and lost happiness), and to side-effects (loss to others, and precedents) [Glover] |
| 4671 | What is wrong with killing someone, if another equally worthwhile life is substituted? [Glover] |
| 4676 | The 'no trade-off' position: killing is only justified if it prevents other deaths [Glover] |
| 4685 | Societies spend a lot to save known persons, but very little to reduce fatal accidents [Glover] |
| 7338 | Man's life is sacred, because it is made in God's image [Johnson,P] |