A Stronger Doctrine of Double Effect

Australasian Journal of Philosophy 96 (4):793-805 (2018)
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Abstract

Many believe that intended harms are more difficult to justify than are harms that result as a foreseen side effect of one's conduct. We describe cases of harming in which the harm is not intended, yet the harmful act nevertheless runs afoul of the intuitive moral constraint that governs intended harms. We note that these cases provide new and improved counterexamples to the so-called Simple View, according to which intentionally phi-ing requires intending to phi. We then give a new theory of the moral relevance of intention. This theory yields the traditional constraint on intending harm as a special case, along with several stronger demands.

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Author Profiles

Simon Goldstein
University of Hong Kong
Ben Bronner
George Washington University

Citations of this work

Skills as Knowledge.Carlotta Pavese & Beddor Bob - 2023 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 101 (3):609-624.
Contrastive Intentions.Andrew Peet - 2023 - Journal of the American Philosophical Association 9 (4):24.
A causal modeler's guide to double effect reasoning.Gerard J. Rothfus - 2025 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 109 (3):986-1008.

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References found in this work

On the Plurality of Worlds.David Lewis - 2001 - Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell.
Intention, plans, and practical reason.Michael E. Bratman - 1987 - Cambridge: MA: Harvard University Press.
Change in View: Principles of Reasoning.Gilbert Harman - 1986 - Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
Rationality Through Reasoning.John Broome - 2013 - Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
On the Plurality of Worlds.David Lewis - 1986 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 178 (3):388-390.

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