title: What makes killing wrong?
abstract: What makes an act of killing morally wrong is not that the act causes loss of life or consciousness but rather that the act causes loss of all remaining abilities. This account implies that it is not even pro tanto morally wrong to kill patients who are universally and irreversibly disabled, because they have no abilities to lose. Applied to vital organ transplantation, this account undermines the dead donor rule and shows how current practices are compatible with morality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy and Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. ws66@duke.edu
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sinnott-Armstrong
authors.forename: Franklin G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001926:Brain Death; D001930:Brain Injuries; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D026689:Ethical Analysis; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006708:Homicide / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000941:ethics*; D026712:Value of Life; D035761:Wedge Argument