Killing and Letting Die

Two ways of being involved in someone’s death: killing letting die Is one worse than the other?

Most people assume that killing is worse than letting die--and most philosophers agree. However, some philosophers think that, from a moral point of view, they are the same.

What difference does it make? Duty to give aid (e.g. famine relief) Euthanasia

The Equivalence Thesis: There is no moral difference between killing and letting die. The bare fact that one act is an act of killing, while another act is an act of letting die, is not a reason for judging one to be better or worse than the other.

Three Arguments in Favor of the Equivalence Thesis: It makes no difference to the person who dies. The Argument from The Black Box

The Argument from Parallel Cases: A pair of cases is described, and then the argument goes: If there was an important moral difference between killing and letting die, then what X did would be worse than what Y did. But what X and Y did were equally bad. Therefore, there is no important moral difference between killing and letting die.

Four attempts to explain why killing is worse than letting die: Cause of Death Dischargeability Optionality Intentions