“How Harms Can Be Better than Benefits: Reply to Carlson, Johansson, and Risberg.”
Romanell Center Spring 2021 Speaker Series
“How Harms Can Be Better than Benefits: Reply to Carlson, Johansson, and Risberg.”
January 29, 2021, 3:00pm via Zoom
Join us online January 29, 2021, Friday, 3:00 p.m. EST, as Neil Feit delivers the talk: “How Harms Can Be Better than Benefits: Reply to Carlson, Johansson, and Risberg.” The online event is part of the Spring 2021 Speaker Series hosted by the Romanell Center. Contact Dr. David Hershenov, dh25@buffalo.edu
Abstract: In this short paper, I respond to an argument given recently by Erik Carlson, Jens Johansson, and Olle Risberg. The authors object to the counterfactual comparative account of harm. They argue that on this account, an action that would harm the one who performs it might leave her better off than some available alternative action that would benefit her, and they object to this implication. By invoking group or plural harm, I argue that their objection fails. Note: The author classifies this paper under foundations of bioethics.
Neil Feit, PhD, Romanell Fellow
About the Speaker
Neil Feit is a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia. He has published two books and over 20 articles, most of which appear in leading international journals of philosophy. Feit’s interest in bioethics and related topics dates back to 2002, when he published a widely cited article on the badness of death. More recently, in a series of papers on the metaphysics and moral significance of harm, Feit has done work on several issues concerning the foundations of bioethics and the nature of disease.
Teaching Interests: Ethics, Life and Death, Logic, Theory of Knowledge, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language.
Research Interests: The concept of harm and its moral significance, value theory, various issues about the self in philosophy of mind, various issues in epistemology.
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CONTACT: David Hershenov, dh25@buffalo.edu