The ethics of killing
Subtitle: problems at the margins of life
By: [by] Jeff McMahan.
Series: Oxford ethics series
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 540
Subjects: Murder -- Moral and ethical aspects; Abortion -- Moral and ethical aspects; Killing of the elderly -- Moral and ethical aspects; Killing of the mentally ill -- Moral and ethical aspects; Euthanasia -- Moral and ethical aspects
Description: "This book is a comprehensive study of the ethics of killing in cases in which the metaphysical or moral status of the individual killed is uncertain or controversial. Among the beings whose status is questionable or marginal in this way are human embryos and fetuses, neonates, animals, anencephalic infants, human beings with severe, congenital, cognitive impairments, and human beings who have become severely demented or irreversibly comatose.".

"In an attempt to understand the moral status of these beings, Jeff McMahan develops and defends distinctive accounts of the nature of personal identity, the evaluation of death, and the wrongness of killing. He contends that the morality of killing is not unitary; rather, the principles that determine the morality of killing in marginal cases are different from those that govern the killing of persons who are self-conscious and rational."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.