[Revised entry by Fiona Woollard, Frances Howard-Snyder, and Charlotte Unruh on July 8, 2025.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html]
Is there a moral difference between doing harm and merely[1] allowing harm? If not, there should be no moral objection to active euthanasia in circumstances where passive euthanasia is permissible; and there should be no objection to bombing innocent civilians where doing so will minimize the overall number of deaths in war. There should, however, be an objection – indeed, an outcry – at our failure to prevent the deaths of millions of children in the third…

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