Book contents
- Intention and Wrongdoing
- Intention and Wrongdoing
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Principle of Double Effect
- Chapter 2 The Grounding Challenge
- Chapter 3 Double Effect and the Morality of Solidarity
- Chapter 4 An Anscombian Account of Intentional Action
- Chapter 5 The Closeness Problem
- Chapter 6 The Irrelevance Theory and More Objections
- Chapter 7 Has Cognitive Science Debunked Deontology?
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
Chapter 1 - The Principle of Double Effect
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2021
- Intention and Wrongdoing
- Intention and Wrongdoing
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Principle of Double Effect
- Chapter 2 The Grounding Challenge
- Chapter 3 Double Effect and the Morality of Solidarity
- Chapter 4 An Anscombian Account of Intentional Action
- Chapter 5 The Closeness Problem
- Chapter 6 The Irrelevance Theory and More Objections
- Chapter 7 Has Cognitive Science Debunked Deontology?
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
According to the PDE, there is a strict moral constraint against bringing about serious evil (harm) to an innocent person intentionally, but it is permissible in a wider range of circumstances to act in a way that brings about serious evil incidentally, as a foreseen but nonintended side effect. In Chapter 1, I discuss the key terms in this definition and I distinguish between an absolutist version of the PDE and a nonabsolutist one. I then introduce two principles that help guide agents when they foresee their conduct will cause incidental harm: the Principle of Proportionality and the Principle of Due Care. Finally, I describe the role of the PDE in just war theory and international humanitarian law, and I set out the plan for the remainder of the book.
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- Intention and WrongdoingIn Defense of Double Effect, pp. 7 - 19Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021