Acts and omissions

The acts and omissions doctrine – that there is, or is sometimes, a morally relevant difference between an act and an omission with the same consequences – has a number of practical applications in applied ethics. In particular, it has been used to draw a distinction between active and passive euthanasia. The doctrine tends to find support from virtue theorists, deontologists, and some rights theorists, for whom there is more to morality than how things turn out. Consequentialists, however, reject the doctrine, arguing that other things being equal, the consequences of an omission are to be judged in exactly the same way as the consequences of an action. Article outline: The Doctrine of Acts and Omissions; Varieties of Omission; Duties and Rights; The Rejection of the Doctrine of Acts and Omissions; The Size of the Evil; Killing and Letting Die: The Case of Euthanasia; Conclusion