Originally Posted by
cyberfish
If I understood correctly, what you are saying is, killing is wrong, no matter what, or for what reason. Is that correct?
What they are saying is, they are killing people to save the lives of more people.
How do you define killing?
Which is essentially my third hypothetical question. The first 2 have too many allusions to a real situation. So I think this one is better, since it's purely ethical.
I am not arguing whether killing people (to save more people) is the only way or the best way, to optimize whatever function we are trying to optimize (minimum deaths, maximum wealth, "happiness", etc). It's a too-many-faced problem that I know too little to argue about.
My question is, ASSUMING it's the best way (to minimize deaths, for example), is it ethical to do it?