Absolutism and its Limits
Journal article
Hawthorne, John Patrick, Isaacs, Yoaav and Littlejohn, Clayton. (2023). Absolutism and its Limits. Journal of Moral Philosophy. 105(20), pp. 170-189. https://doi.org/10.1163/17455243-20233831
Authors | Hawthorne, John Patrick, Isaacs, Yoaav and Littlejohn, Clayton |
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Abstract | Many philosophers think that given the choice between saving the life of an innocent person and averting any number of minor ailments or inconveniences, it would be better to save the life. How, then, should one compare the risk of an innocent person’s life to such minor ailments and inconveniences? If lives are infinitely more important than insignificant factors then any risk cannot be outweighed, and that is untenable. An alternative approach seems more promising: let the values of such insignificant factors be bounded, as then there will be well-behaved tradeoffs between insignificant things and the risk to an innocent life. We argue, however, that bounding the values of insignificant factors poses myriad problems. |
Keywords | philosophy; deontology; absolutism; decision theory; moral philosophy |
Year | 01 Jan 2023 |
Journal | Journal of Moral Philosophy |
Journal citation | 105 (20), pp. 170-189 |
Publisher | Brill |
ISSN | 1745-5243 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1163/17455243-20233831 |
Web address (URL) | https://brill.com/view/journals/jmp/21/1-2/article-p170_007.xml |
Open access | Published as non-open access |
Research or scholarly | Research |
Page range | 170-189 |
Publisher's version | License All rights reserved File Access Level Controlled |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 05 Sep 2023 |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 13 Nov 2024 |
Additional information | © John Hawthorne et al., 2023 |
Published with license by Koninklijke Brill NV | |
Place of publication | Netherlands |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/910x9/absolutism-and-its-limits
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