Morality, Mortality: Volume II: Rights, Duties, and Status

This second volume continues F.M. Kamm's exploration of ethical issues, focusing on rights, duties, and the moral implications of life and death decisions.

In Morality, Mortality: Volume II: Rights, Duties, and Status, F.M. Kamm continues her exploration of complex ethical issues surrounding life and death, building upon the foundation laid in Volume I. This volume delves into the moral distinctions between killing and letting die, as well as the implications of harming versus not aiding others. Kamm emphasizes the importance of methodology in analyzing these ethical dilemmas, addressing factors such as contextual interactions, agent regret, and the varying degrees of act stringency.

The second part of the book tackles well-known ethical dilemmas, including the Survival Lottery and the Trolley Problem. Kamm seeks to establish a principled framework that clarifies when it is permissible or impermissible to harm some individuals in order to save others. Through these discussions, she examines the nuances of moral decision-making and the underlying principles that govern our ethical judgments.

In the final section, Kamm investigates the relationship between conduct restrictions and the prerogatives individuals have to avoid making sacrifices. She contrasts victim-focused and agent-relative perspectives on rights, striving to connect these themes with the existence of entities that hold significant moral status and the value of different states of affairs. Ultimately, Morality, Mortality: Volume II offers a rich and thoughtful examination of ethical theory, bridging deontological and consequentialist views.