Last updated on:
3/5/2009 |
Author: ProCon.org
Frances M. Kamm, PhD Biography
- Title:
- Lucius Littauer Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy at John F. Kennedy School of Government
- Position:
- Pro to the question "Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?"
- Reasoning:
-
“We have constructed a three-step argument for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: Assuming patient consent, 1) we may permissibly cause death as a side effect if it relieves pain, because sometimes death is a lesser evil and pain relief a greater good; 2) we may permissibly intend other lesser evils to the patient, for the sake of her greater good; 3) therefore, when death is a lesser evil, it is sometimes permissible for us to intend death in order to stop pain. Call this the Three-Step Argument.”
“Physician-Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, and Intending Death,” in Physician-Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate, 1998
- Involvement and Affiliations:
-
- Lucius Littauer Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government
- Member, Editorial Boards of Utilitas, Philosophy & Public Affairs, and Legal Theory
- Member, Advisory Board of the Routledge International Library of Philosophy
- Grant Recipient, American Council of Learned Societies
- Former Fellow, Guggenheim Foundation
- Former Fellow, American Association of University Women
- Former Fellow, Columbia Law School
- Former Fellow, Harvard Program in Ethics and the Professions
- Former Fellow, Center for Human Values at Princeton University
- Former Member, advisory board of the Routledge International Library of Philosophy
- Former Consultant on Ethics, World Health Organization
- Education:
-
- PhD, School unknown
- BA, School unknown
- Other:
-
- Specializes in normative ethical theory and problems in practical ethics related to medicine and law
- Quoted in: