Volume 26, Number 2
December 2023
ARTICLE

Contextualizing, Clarifying, and Defending the Doctrine of Double Effect

Volume 26, Number 2, December 2023, Pages 297–324
https://doi.org/10.26556/jesp.v26i2.2733
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Abstract

In recent years, a number of authors—such as Kershnar and Kelly, Steinhoff, and Scanlon—have criticized the doctrine of double effect (dde) as incoherent, lacking an underlying rationale, or leading to counterintuitive conclusions. These critiques, however, rest on a failure to understand the dde’s broader theoretical context and presuppositions. This paper aims to clarify and advance the debate regarding the dde by, first, outlining a contemporary version of the broader normative theory (i.e. the Aristotelian-Thomistic natural law tradition) within which the dde finds its proper context, and explaining the rationale for the dde within this context; second, clarifying the dde’s proportionality condition to avoid common misinterpretations; and, third, showing how the dde, when properly formulated and understood within the appropriate theoretical context, can withstand the recent criticisms that have been raised against it.
Copyright © 2023 Melissa Moschella
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.
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