Deontology at the Threshold

Abstract

Notwithstanding, Moore does admit that there is a psychological danger that people, once told that deontological prohibitions give way to consequentialist considerations at some point, will be much too quick to allow those consequentialist considerations to dominate.6 After all, if one can kill or torture to prevent the killing or torturing of N, it is hard to see why one should not kill or torture to prevent the killing or torturing of N-l, or N-2, and so on, right down to the point where the number saved is only slightly larger than the number harmed. However, this psychological point, which may suggest that people should not be told that consequentialist considerations can ever override deontological prohibitions, in no way undermines the moral truth that at some point, deontological prohibitions do give way.

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