Tag Archives: doctrine of double effect

Sophia Reibetanz

Rather than harming one person as a means of saving five others through transplants, the surgeon decides to let the five die. Some days later, a utilitarian friend asks why he responded in this way. Blushing, he replies, ‘Had I been alone, I’d have had little compunction about removing the one’s organs to save the five. But I was with a senior colleague who is a staunch defender of the Doctrine of Double Effect. I thought I’d stand a better chance at promotion if she didn’t think I had acted wrongly.’

Sophia Reibetanz, ‘A Problem for the Doctrine of Double Effect’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 98, no. 2 (1998), p. 219-220