Q What is the Doctrine of Double Effect? Describe a case in which the doctrine could be used as a source of moral guidance. Do you think the Doctrine of Double Effect gives good advice in this case? What about in general?
The Doctrine of Double Effect is based on minimizing harm to a particular individual or group of individuals as much as possible. “Certain goals are never to be pursued, even if pursuing them will help us minimize harm” (Shafer-Landau, 2014). This implies that it is not always mandatory for a particular individual to pursue goals (which will minimize harm) because the individual knows that those goals would cause harm to others more often than not. Even if a particular individual would not want to pursue a particular goal, that person might have to pursue that particular goal because of the will to minimize harm (Wholihan & Olson, 2017).
