"Suppose we took the bold claim that consequences are the only thing that's morally relevant. There are moral views that take this position. I suppose the best-known example of this kind of consequence-only approach to morality is utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the moral doctrine that says right and wrong is a matter of producing as much happiness for everybody as possible, counting everybody's happiness equally. And when you can't produce happiness, then at least trying to minimize the misery and suffering, counting everybody's misery and suffering equally.
(...)
We can even think of cases where your life is worse than nothing, you'd be better off dead, and there is no medical alternative of a cure available to you, but for all that, it still isn't morally legitimate to kill yourself in terms of the utilitarian outlook. Because, as always, we have to think about the consequences for others. And there may be others who'd be so adversely affected by your death that the harm to them outweighs the cost to you of keeping yourself alive. Suppose, for example, that you're the single parent of young children. You've got a kind of moral obligation to look after them. If you were to die, they'd really have it horribly. It's conceivable then, in cases like that, the suffering of your children, were you to kill yourself, would outweigh the suffering that you'd have to undergo were you to keep yourself alive for the sake of your children. So, it all depends on the facts."
© Shelly Kagan
Yale Lectures on Philosophy of Death, 2007
(...)
We can even think of cases where your life is worse than nothing, you'd be better off dead, and there is no medical alternative of a cure available to you, but for all that, it still isn't morally legitimate to kill yourself in terms of the utilitarian outlook. Because, as always, we have to think about the consequences for others. And there may be others who'd be so adversely affected by your death that the harm to them outweighs the cost to you of keeping yourself alive. Suppose, for example, that you're the single parent of young children. You've got a kind of moral obligation to look after them. If you were to die, they'd really have it horribly. It's conceivable then, in cases like that, the suffering of your children, were you to kill yourself, would outweigh the suffering that you'd have to undergo were you to keep yourself alive for the sake of your children. So, it all depends on the facts."
© Shelly Kagan
Yale Lectures on Philosophy of Death, 2007
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