Bontly on Harm and the Non-Identity Problem

Utilitas 31 (4):477-481 (2019)
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Abstract

The ‘non-identity problem’ raises a well-known challenge to the person-affecting view, according to which an action can be wrong only if it affects someone for the worse. In a recent article, however, Thomas D. Bontly proposes a novel way to solve the non-identity problem in person-affecting terms. Bontly's argument is based on a contrastive causal account of harm. In this response, we argue that Bontly's argument fails even assuming that the contrastive causal account is correct.

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Author Profiles

Erik Carlson
Uppsala Universitet
Jens Johansson
Uppsala University

Citations of this work

A Simple Analysis of Harm.Jens Johansson & Olle Risberg - 2022 - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 9:509-536.
Causal Accounts of Harming.Erik Carlson, Jens Johansson & Olle Risberg - 2021 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 103 (2):420-445.

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References found in this work

Future generations: Further problems.Derek Parfit - 1982 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 11 (2):113-172.
Causes, contrasts, and the non-identity problem.Thomas D. Bontly - 2016 - Philosophical Studies 173 (5):1233-1251.

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