Why the Wrongness of Killing Innocents is Not a Universal Moral Certainty

Philosophical Investigations 45 (1):58-76 (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that the certainty about the wrongness of killing must not be considered as a universal, but as a local one. Initially, I show that there exist communities in which the wrongness of killing innocents is not a moral certainty and that this kind of case cannot be justified by arguing that such people are psychopaths. Lastly, I argue that universal certainties do not admit of exceptions: thus, the fact that some exceptional cases affect the certainty that killing innocents is wrong, leads me to conclude that it is a local certainty.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,386

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Wittgenstein and basic moral certainty.Nigel Pleasants - 2009 - Philosophia 37 (4):669-679.
Killing, wrongness, and equality.Carlos Soto - 2013 - Philosophical Studies 164 (2):543-559.
Not All Killings Are Equally Wrong.Todd Karhu - 2019 - Utilitas 31 (4):378–394.
Epicurus, Death, and the Wrongness of Killing.Mikel Burley - 2010 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 53 (1):68-86.
Analysing the Wrongness of Killing.Ezio Di Nucci - 2014 - Public Reason 6 (1-2).
On Physician-Assisted Death and the Killing of Innocents.Patrick T. Smith - 2019 - International Philosophical Quarterly 59 (3):341-363.
Terrorism, Supreme Emergency and Killing the Innocent.Anne Schwenkenbecher - 2009 - Perspectives - The Review of International Affairs 17 (1):105-126.
Epicureanism and the Wrongness of Killing.Tim Burkhardt - 2020 - The Journal of Ethics 24 (2):177-192.
Killing humans and killing animals.Peter Singer - 1979 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 22 (1-4):145 – 156.
The Wrongness of Killing.Rainer Ebert - 2016 - Dissertation, Rice University
Moral Tragedy Pacifism.Nicholas Parkin - 2019 - Journal of Moral Philosophy 16 (3):259-278.
Broadening the future of value account of the wrongness of killing.Ezio Di Nucci - 2015 - Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 18 (4):587-590.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-12-11

Downloads
31 (#504,675)

6 months
9 (#295,075)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?