Lecture Notes on Thomas Hobbes and the Ethics of Killing

Thomas Hobbes: The Value of a Man Is His Price

According to Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), the "Value, or WORTH of a man, is as of all other things, his Price; that is to say, so much as would be given for the use of his Power." Thus, a person's worth is not absolute but depends on others' needs and judgments. The value we place on one another is manifested through honoring and dishonoring, while the public worth of a man, set by the Commonwealth, is called dignity.

Jeff McMahan: Killing

Jeff McMahan (1954-) discusses the wrongness of killing, contrasting two accounts:

• Harm-Based Account: Killing is wrong due to the harm inflicted on the victim, with the degree of wrongness varying with the degree of harm. This view is associated with the idea that there is no morally significant distinction between killing someone and letting someone die.

• Time-Relative Interest Account: The wrongness of killing lies in frustrating the victim's interest in continuing to live, which is "time-relative" or based on the interests a person has at a particular time.

McMahan argues against the Harm-Based Account, suggesting it implies an implausible understanding of the badness of death. According to the Harm-Based Account, an act of killing is wrong, or morally objectionable, at least in part because it harms its victim, then another act that is the same in all relevant respects except that it harms its victim to an even greater extent will be wrong, or morally objectionable, to a greater degree.

McMahan's Argument Against the Harm-Based Account

McMahan argues that the Harm-Based Account presupposes that identity is what matters. He proposes the Time-Relative Interest Account, asserting that what is fundamentally wrong about killing is that it frustrates the victim's time-relative interest in continuing to live. The degree to which an act of killing is wrong varies, other things being equal, with the strength of the victim's time-relative interest in continuing to live.