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About this book
The papers collected here represent the most recent work on a much neglected problem in practical reasoning. It is the problem of imperceptible harms and benefits. It is perhaps better to characterize the problem as a collection of puzzles or paradoxes, since those who deny the existence (or possibility) of imperceptible decrements (or increments) face problems no less perplexing than those who affinn their existence. The puzzles and paradoxes combine very practical and pressing worries about our obligations to relieve starvation, mitigate suffering and conserve resources, with deep metaethical worries about the nature of practical rationality. I use these brief introductory pages to familiarize the reader with the basic set of problems examined in this collection. Most of us think that an action cannot be wrong if its effects are entirely and always imperceptible.· Jonathan Glover's fanciful example of the 100 armed bandits and the 100 Wlarmed tribesman clearly illustrates a deep worry with such moral reasoning.
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Editors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Imperceptible Harms and Benefits
Editors: Michael J. Almeida
Series Title: Library of Ethics and Applied Philosophy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4144-4
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
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eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2000
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-7923-6464-1Published: 30 September 2000
Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-5806-3Published: 11 October 2012
eBook ISBN: 978-94-011-4144-4Published: 06 December 2012
Series ISSN: 1387-6678
Series E-ISSN: 2215-0323
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 158
Topics: Ontology, Ethics, Philosophy, general, Microeconomics, Operations Research/Decision Theory