Question

What is the double effect?

Answer 1

Double Effect is a set of ethical criteria which Christian philosophers, and some others, have advocated for evaluating the permissibility of acting when one's otherwise legitimate act (for example, relieving a terminally ill patient's pain) may also cause an effect one would otherwise be obliged to avoid (sedation and a slightly shortened life).

This set of criteria states that an action having foreseen harmful effects practically inseparable from the good effect is justifiable if the following are true:

• The nature of the act is itself good, or at least morally neutral;
• The agent intends the good effect and does not intend the bad effect either as a means to The good or as an end in itself;
• The good effect outweighs the bad effect in circumstances sufficiently grave to justify causing the bad effect and the agent exercises due diligence to minimize the harm...