The ethics of killing : problems at the margins of life
Drawing on philosophical notions of personal identity and the immorality of killing, Jeff McMahan looks at various issues, including abortion, infanticide, the killing of animals, assisted suicide, and euthanasia
1 online resource (xiii, 540 pages)
9780198024156, 9781423757641, 9780195079982, 9780199833443, 0198024150, 1423757645, 0195079981, 0199833443
64638570
1. IDENTITY: Preliminaries
The soul
Are we human organisms?
The psychological account
The embodied mind account
2. DEATH: Preliminaries
The problem of comparison
The metaphysical problem
The problem of overdetermination
Overall lifelong fortune
The death of fetuses and infants
A paradox
3. KILLING: The wrongness of killing and the badness of death
Animals and severely cognitively impaired human beings
Equality and respect
4. BEGINNINGS: Early abortion
Late abortion
Prenatal harm
Is a later abortion worse?
Time-relative interests and adaptation
Potential
The sanctity of human life
Infanticide
Abortion as the denial of life support
Abortion and self-defense
5. ENDINGS: When do we die, or cease to exist?
Euthanasia and assisted suicide
The withering away of the self
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