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| in Ethics |
Is there a rational basis for deciding when I should sacrifice my life to save another person's life?
March 9, 2011
| Response from Nicholas D. Smith on March 10, 2011 |
It seems to me that there might be any number of such bases, yes, but perhaps there is a single generic way to characterize most (if perhaps not all) of them. One way to think of your life (since, after all, you are going to die eventually anyway) is to regard it as a whole, and to evaluate that whole as a kind of multi-media creation (part historical narrative, part performance art, etc.). Viewed in this way, sacrificing whatever is left of your life to save another's might seem very reasonably to count as the perfect ending for this work of art that is your life.
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