Harming and Wronging in Creating

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The nonidentity problem (NIP) is a deep puzzle challenging the moral intuition that what is bad must be bad for someone. The first part of the paper constructs a new theory of harming, whereas the second part builds on the conclusions of the first to offer a new solution to the NIP. The first part discusses the neglected question of when a burden inflicted in the context of overall benefitting can be discretized as a separate entity - only when it can, is it possible to identify the burden as harm, and only then is it possible to harm in bringing into overall good existence. The second part explains how, in those cases where creating is indeed harming, we can use the logic of concept expansion to construct a concept of wronging that applies to creation cases.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)466-491
Number of pages26
JournalJournal of Medicine and Philosophy (United Kingdom)
Volume46
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2021

Keywords

  • discretization
  • harm
  • logic of concept expansion
  • nonidentity problem
  • wronging

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Medicine

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