Killing and Saving

Killing and Saving
Author: John P. Reeder
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2010-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780271040035

"This impressive work is fair, balanced, critical and insightful."-Choice Contrary to the views of Alasdair MacIntyre and others who assert that modern Western morality is in disarray, torn by incommensurable moral views, John Reeder believes that there is much agreement about taking and saving lives. Many people might, in fact, agree on the various circumstances in which the death of a person constitutes a violation of the right to life, or that people have a right to our help, especially a right to life-saving aid. In Killing and Saving, Reeder analyzes five sorts of situations in which we are morally permitted or even obligated to take human life: e.g., when we repel an attacker who voluntarily "forfeits" the right to life; when we are confronted with "involuntary pursuit" or "material aggression;" when someone "yields" the right to life; when all will die if nothing is done, but some can be saved if others are killed; and when there is a "double effect" in which we take life as a foreseen but unintended consequence of attempt to achieve a greater good. Reeder argues that these (and closely related) categories account for many of our convictions ranging from abortion to infanticide, to starvation, to war. He also examines the concept of absolute or exceptionless right to life. Reeder draws on a number of moral views, from theological ethics to Enlightenment notions of natural rights or respect for rational creatures. He does not attempt to argue for a foundation for the right not to be killed and the right to be saved. Rather, he focuses on the content of the convictions themselves and argues that where disagreements remain, such as the case of abortion, they can be accounted for by the way the rights in question are explained and justified.

Causing Death and Saving Lives

Causing Death and Saving Lives
Author: Jonathan Glover
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 384
Release: 1990-06-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0141949732

The moral problems of abortion, infanticide, suicide, euthanasia, capital punshiment, war and othe life-or-death choices.

Doing and Allowing Harm

Doing and Allowing Harm
Author: Fiona Woollard
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2015-01-08
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191506559

Doing harm seems much harder to justify than merely allowing harm. If a boulder is rushing towards Bob, you may refuse to save Bob's life by driving your car into the path of the boulder if doing so would cost you your own life. You may not push the boulder towards Bob to save your own life. This principle—the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing—requires defence. Does the distinction between doing and allowing fall apart under scrutiny? When lives are at stake, how can it matter whether harm is done or allowed? Drawing on detailed analysis of the distinction between doing and allowing, Fiona Woollard argues that the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing is best understood as a principle that protects us from harmful imposition. Such protection against imposition is necessary for morality to recognize anything as genuinely belonging to a person, even that person's own body. As morality must recognize each person's body as belonging to her, the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing should be accepted. Woollard defends a moderate account of our obligations to aid, tackling arguments by Peter Singer and Peter Unger that we must give most of our money away and arguments from Robert Nozick that obligations to aid are incompatible with self-ownership.

Silence Kills

Silence Kills
Author: Lee Gutkind
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007
Genre: Communication
ISBN: 9780870745188

The dozen personal essays in this collection, from patients and their caregivers, nurses, social workers, and physicians, address the devastating human results that can occur from a lack of communication and understanding among those in the health care profession. Medical error--much of it traceable to simple lack of communication--costs billions of dollars each year, in addition to the less quantifiable costs of the loss of trust in doctor-patient relationships and the decline in morale among health care professionals. These powerful stories illustrate the need to find ways to break these potentially lethal silences. In "Mrs. Kelly," a doctor obeying his superior's order sends a man home from the emergency room against his better judgment, agonizes over his decision, and later calls the man's widow to apologize. In "In Praise of Osmosis," a critical-care nurse pressures a hospital's hierarchy to authorize the continuous renal replacement therapy her patient needs to prevent imminent and irreversible damage to his kidneys. In "You Have the Right to Remain Silent," an inmate's sister must fight her way through miles of red tape to get treatment for the Hepatitis-C her brother contracted in prison. Inspired by groundbreaking research by VitalSmarts, a global leader in organizational performance and leadership, and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), and supported by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, Lee Gutkind, editor of the journal Creative Nonfiction, has collected the essays in this volume--with the hope that these voices, speaking out, taking action and risks, will inspire others to make changes that will improve communication within our troubled health caresystem.

Defending Jacob

Defending Jacob
Author: William Landay
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2012-01-31
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0345527593

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A legal thriller that’s comparable to classics such as Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent . . . tragic and shocking.”—Associated Press NOW AN EMMY-NOMINATED ORIGINAL STREAMING SERIES • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • Boston Globe • Kansas City Star Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney for two decades. He is respected. Admired in the courtroom. Happy at home with the loves of his life: his wife, Laurie, and their teenage son, Jacob. Then Andy’s quiet suburb is stunned by a shocking crime: a young boy stabbed to death in a leafy park. And an even greater shock: The accused is Andy’s own son—shy, awkward, mysterious Jacob. Andy believes in Jacob’s innocence. Any parent would. But the pressure mounts. Damning evidence. Doubt. A faltering marriage. The neighbors’ contempt. A murder trial that threatens to obliterate Andy’s family. It is the ultimate test for any parent: How far would you go to protect your child? It is a test of devotion. A test of how well a parent can know a child. For Andy Barber, a man with an iron will and a dark secret, it is a test of guilt and innocence in the deepest sense. How far would you go? Praise for Defending Jacob “A novel like this comes along maybe once a decade . . . a tour de force, a full-blooded legal thriller about a murder trial and the way it shatters a family. With its relentless suspense, its mesmerizing prose, and a shocking twist at the end, it’s every bit as good as Scott Turow’s great Presumed Innocent. But it’s also something more: an indelible domestic drama that calls to mind Ordinary People and We Need to Talk About Kevin. A spellbinding and unforgettable literary crime novel.”—Joseph Finder “Defending Jacob is smart, sophisticated, and suspenseful—capturing both the complexity and stunning fragility of family life.”—Lee Child “Powerful . . . leaves you gasping breathlessly at each shocking revelation.”—Lisa Gardner “Disturbing, complex, and gripping, Defending Jacob is impossible to put down. William Landay is a stunning talent.”—Carla Neggers “Riveting, suspenseful, and emotionally searing.”—Linwood Barclay

Kill the Indian, Save the Man

Kill the Indian, Save the Man
Author: Ward Churchill
Publisher: City Lights Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2004-11-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9780872864399

For five consecutive generations, from roughly 1880 to 1980, Native American children in the United States and Canada were forcibly taken from their families and relocated to residential schools.

The Kind Worth Killing

The Kind Worth Killing
Author: Peter Swanson
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2015-02-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 006226754X

A devious tale of psychological suspense perfect for fans of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train—and is soon to be a major movie directed by Agnieszka Holland. In a tantalizing set-up reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith’s classic Strangers on a Train… On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start—he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit—a contrast that once inflamed their passion, but has now become a cliché. But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.” After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse. . . . Back in Boston, Ted and Lily’s twisted bond grows stronger as they begin to plot Miranda's demise. But there are a few things about Lily’s past that she hasn’t shared with Ted, namely her experience in the art and craft of murder, a journey that began in her very precocious youth. Suddenly these co-conspirators are embroiled in a chilling game of cat-and-mouse, one they both cannot survive . . . with a shrewd and very determined detective on their tail.

Kill It to Save It

Kill It to Save It
Author: Corey Dolgon
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2017-04-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1447317122

For decades now, American voters have been convinced to support public policies that only benefit those in power. But how do the powerful extract consent from citizens whose own self-interest and collective well-being are constantly denied? And why do so many Americans seem to have given up on quality public education, on safe food and safe streets, on living wages--even on democracy itself? Kill It to Save It lays bare the hypocrisy of contemporary US political discourse, documenting the historical and theoretical trajectory of capitalism's triumph over democracy. Tackling the interconnected issues of globalization, neoliberalism, and declining public institutions, Corey Dolgon argues that American citizens now accept reform policies that destroy the public sector (seemingly in the public interest) and a political culture that embraces what Stephen Colbert calls "truthiness"--a willingness to agree to arguments that feel right "in the gut" regardless of fancy science or messy facts. In a narrative that stretches from the post-Vietnam War era to the present parade of political reality TV and debates over Black Lives Matter, Dolgon dismantles US common-sense cultural discourse. His original, alternative account reveals that this ongoing crisis in US policy will not cease until a critical mass of American citizens recognize what has been lost, and in whose interest.

Who Would You Kill to Save the World?

Who Would You Kill to Save the World?
Author: Claire Colebrook
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2023-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1496237153

Who Would You Kill to Save the World? examines how postapocalyptic cinema uses images from the past and present to depict what it means to preserve the world--and who is left out of the narrative of rebuilding society. Claire Colebrook redefines "the world" as affluent Western society and "saving the world" as preventing us from becoming the othered them who are viewed in their suffering. Colebrook further examines how the use of postapocalyptic cinema is a humanist--Western, capitalist, colonizing, white, heteronormative, and individualist--creation and challenges the notion that a world built on foundations of exploitation is worth saving. Colebrook combines postapocalyptic fiction, concern over the global climate crisis, colonialism, and anti-Blackness to explain how contemporary postapocalypse blockbusters circulate ideas of whiteness and the right of the privileged to rebuild the world. Who Would You Kill to Save the World? is a provocative addition to the field of extinction studies and challenges the conceptual frames we use to define ourselves.

Saving Max

Saving Max
Author: Antoinette van Heugten
Publisher: MIRA
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2021-06-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 036970519X

Max Parkman is perfect in his mother's eyes. Until he's accused of murder. Attorney Danielle Parkman can't deny her son's behavior has been getting worse—drugs and violent outbursts have become a frightening routine. But when she receives the diagnosis from a top-notch adolescent psychiatric facility that Max is deeply disturbed—and dangerous—it seems too devastating to accept. Until she finds Max, weapon in hand, at the bedside of a fellow patient who has been brutally stabbed to death. Separated from Max and trapped in a maelstrom of doubt and fear, Danielle's mothering instincts snap sharply into focus. The justice system is bearing down on her son, so she must use her years of legal experience to find out the truth, no matter what that might be. But has she, too, lost touch with reality? Is her son truly a killer? Previously published.