Killing and letting die: Hidden value assumptions

Gary Atkinson

Social Science & Medicine, 1983, vol. 17, issue 23, 1915-1925

Abstract: In this paper I argue for several related theses: first, that the distinction between killing and letting die, as it is drawn by ordinary persons in ordinary contexts, is more complex than is generally understood; second, that the key feature of this complexity lies in the presence of a hidden normative component in what appears to be a straightforwardly descriptive distinction; and, third, that this complexity renders the killing/letting die distinction an inadequate and hazardous guide for moral reasoning.

Date: 1983
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