Document Type
Article Draft
Publication Date
1-2-1993
Language
en-US
Abstract
DDE-type inquiries usually emerge from a particular brand of intuitionistically-applied deontology which one might call a "theory of side-constraints". From the deontologic notion that "persons are ends, not means," philosophers of this stripe have intuited a number of constraints that should constrain moral actors regardless of the cost. The science of side-constraints is obviously inconsistent with theories such as utilitarianism and economic wealth-maximization, where assessing the costs and benefits of an action constitute the primary guide for action. By contrast side-constraint philosophers tell us that one may not kill another person even to save a large number of other persons; one could not kill even one innocent to save the whole world.
Recommended Citation
Wendy J. Gordon, Draft of Blackmail: DDE-type Inquiries (Jan. 2, 1993) (unpublished manuscript).
