The Journal of Philosophy

Volume 115, Issue 2, February 2018

Kieran Setiya
Pages 92-105

Must Consequentialists Kill?

Opposing conventional wisdom, I argue that the ethics of killing and saving lives is best described by agent-neutral consequentialism, not by appeal to agent-centered restrictions. It does not follow that killings are worse than accidental deaths or that you should kill one to prevent more killings. The upshot is a puzzle about killing and letting die.