Some Versions of the Number Problem Have No Solution

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 13 (4):439-451 (2010)
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Abstract

This article addresses Taruek’s much discussed Number Problem from a non-consequentialist point of view. I argue that some versions of the Number Problem have no solution, meaning that no alternative is at least as choice-worthy as the others, and that the best way to behave in light of such moral indeterminacy is to let chance make the decision. I contrast my proposal with F M Kamm ’s nonconsequentialist argument for saving the greatest number, the Argument for Best Outcomes, which I argue does not follow from the premises it is based on

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References found in this work

What we owe to each other.Thomas Scanlon - 1998 - Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Ethics without principles.Jonathan Dancy - 2004 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Should the numbers count?John Taurek - 1977 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 6 (4):293-316.
An introduction to decision theory.Martin Peterson - 2009 - Cambridge University Press.

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