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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that It is not clear that failing to rescue a drowning child harms the child.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The morally relevant baseline for harm is not a counterfactual world without the bystander, but the child's legitimate expectation of continued life.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.A bystander who can rescue at negligible cost occupies a causal role that makes non-intervention a choice to let a harm persist, not a neutral omission.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Joel Feinberg's setback-to-interests account entails that failing to prevent a foreseeable worsening of another's condition constitutes harm when prevention was readily available.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Selecting the 'bystander never present' baseline is question-begging because it presupposes that positive duties cannot generate harm, which is precisely what is at issue.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Mill himself held that society may coerce individuals to perform 'certain positive acts for the benefit of others' such as saving a life, implying the failure to act is a harm-relevant event.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Whether a failure to rescue constitutes harm depends on the chosen baseline.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Relative to the baseline of a world where the bystander was never present, the child would have drowned anyway.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.The bystander's absence would not have changed the child's outcome.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.
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