Imagine that five patients will die unless they receive new organs from a healthy stranger. From a utilitarian point of view, it thus seems right to kill one innocent patient to save five.
A) Utilitarians can respond that all things considered the overall consequences of killing healthy patients would be negative, because patients would no longer trust their doctors.
B) Utilitarians can respond that all things considered the overall consequences of killing healthy patients are hard to predict, which means that we have a compelling reason for not killing healthy patients.
C) Utilitarians respond that all things considered the overall consequences of killing healthy patients can be expected to be negative under some circumstances, which means that we have a compelling reason for not killing healthy patients.
D) All of the above

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Utilitarianism focuses on the overall consequences of actions. All provided responses (A, B, C) highlight different aspects of how utilitarians might argue against killing a healthy patient to save five others, emphasizing negative outcomes, unpredictability, and context-specific consequences, all of which align with utilitarian principles of maximizing overall happiness or well-being.

Imagine That Five Patients Will Die Unless They Receive New