Killing and other dastardly deeds : hard problems for moral theory / John Hawthorne ; with Christina H. Dietz, Vishnu Sridharan, and Yoaav Isaacs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hawthorne, John (John P.), author.

Contributor:

Dietz, Christina H. (Christina Hope), 1990- contributor.

Sridharan, Vishnu, contributor.

Isaacs, Yoaav, contributor.

Series:

Carl G. Hempel Lecture Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Death--Moral and ethical aspects.

Death.

Homicide--Moral and ethical aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (249 pages)

Other Title:

Hard problems for moral theory

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2026.

Summary:

A powerful and probing critique of the ethical permissibility of serious harms. In Killing and Other Dastardly Deeds, eminent philosopher John Hawthorne rigorously probes the commonsense morality of killing and other serious harms, exposing troubling issues at the foundations of ethical thought. The book addresses the ethical significance of causatives, focusing on the contrast between actions that are killings and those that aren't killings, but which hasten death. It offers an extensive critique of popular contractualist treatments of the wrongness of harming people. It also investigates the popular absolutist idea that one should never perform an action that will with certainty kill someone when the only upside is an array of trifling goods. Along the way, readers learn just how difficult it is to embed various standard ethical ideas into a sensible normative theory of decision making. Drawing many connections with areas of philosophy beyond ethics, and making important contributions at the intersection of ethics and decision theory, Killing and Other Dastardly Deeds is an insightful critique of absolutist prohibitions on killing.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments

1. Killing: On the Ethical Significance of Causatives

2. Vaccines and Electric Shocks: Contractualists on Harm

3. Killing for Burgers. Part 1: Challenges for Absolutism

4. Killing for Burgers. Part 2: Some Absolutist Responses

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-232) and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Hawthorne, John Killing and Other Dastardly Deeds

ISBN:

9780691285108

9780691290225

0-691-28510-1

OCLC:

1587900976