×
welcome covers

Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please


If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit Subscriptions.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Bioethics

Three Guys with Failing Organs vs One Guy with Good Organs

Michael Voytinsky finds another take on a classic utilitarian dilemma.

A hypothetical example comes up in many discussions of utilitarianism and its implications: three people with three different failing organs lie dying in a hospital when a healthy person arrives with a minor injury. If utilitarians are serious about wanting the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, it is argued, then surely they should favour killing the healthy person to provide organs to save the other three? The following document offers a new perspective on the issue.

This document came into my possession as a result of an integrated DVD player/coffee maker malfunction that briefly sent me into a dystopian (or perhaps utopian) near future. I have shown it to friends and family, and while none of them would want to join the Voluntary Organ Exchange Society, they cannot give a rational reason for not wanting to do so.

• • • • •

Voluntary Organ Exchange Society F.