Homework#5_Phil 3103(01)_F23
.pdf
keyboard_arrow_up
School
University of Arkansas *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
3103
Subject
Philosophy
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
Pages
1
Uploaded by calihenson
Homework #5
Phil 3103(01)
Fall 23
DUE: Friday 10.27 as a hard copy in class.
Background
Consider the following 'Trapped Driver/Burning Truck Case'. (The case is an analogy for thinking about
the permissibility/impermissiblity of
voluntary active euthanasia
.) After regaining consciousness from a
bad crash, you manage to climb out of the overturned truck you and your friend were in. He is the driver.
He is trapped behind the steering wheel. You see him regain consciousness. You both then smell gasoline.
You see an orange glow from what is apparently a flame by his feet. He looks down and sees the flame,
tries desperately but fails to get free, and then says "Do it. Just do it." What does he mean? Note that the
two of you were on your way home from the shooting range (this may be hard for some of you to
imagine, but do your best), and you're got only a single bullet in your pistol. He means 'Kill me. Just kill
me'. He is volunteering himself to be killed, it's presumably in his best interest not to be burned alive, and
your shooting would of course be active rather than passive.
Instructions
With the trapped driver/burning truck case in mind, and having taken a look at the relevant section from
chapter 2 of your medical ethics book [1
st
edition:
Mercy killing
, pp. 14-25 (minus 21-23). 2
nd
edition:
Case comparison
,
pp. 18-26.)], do the following (total length should not exceed one single-spaced page in
12 point font):
(i) With respect to the trapped driver/burning truck case, which of the
seven reasons
in support of the
claim ‘one should
not
shoot the driver’ strikes you as the strongest?* Justify your response.
[Note: your believing there is a strongest reason to not shoot is consistent with your believing that
no reason is sufficiently strong to justify not shooting. That is, the strongest reason might not be strong
enough.]
(ii) Which of the seven reasons do you figure that Tony Hope (your book’s author) believes is the
strongest? Justify your response.
[‘Strongest’ has the same meaning here as in (i); i.e., a similar note applies as to consistency of
strongest and insufficiently strong.]
(iii) Assess Hope’s criticism of reason 7.
(Some options: successful, unsuccessful. Either way, say
why
it is so.)
The criticism appears in edition one in the section titled ‘It is the harm of death that makes killing
wrong’ (pp. 24-25); in edition two it appears at the top of p. 26 from "We might argue...". [Hint: you’ll
find the task of assessing Hope’s criticism easier if you first try to figure out how an advocate of reason 7
might predictably respond to Hope’s criticism.]
(iv) What is
your view
of the matter? That is, do you believe that
mercy killing
(i.e., voluntary active
euthanasia) is permissible or impermissible? Be sure to justify your answer with reference to at least one
of our four moral theories.
*[
NOTE to those with 2
nd
edition
(i.e. published 2018): ignore reason five (illegality), then
renumber accordingly. This leaves you with seven reasons numbered 1-7. 1
st
edition and 2
nd
edition users will then be talking about the same reasons.]
Discover more documents: Sign up today!
Unlock a world of knowledge! Explore tailored content for a richer learning experience. Here's what you'll get:
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help