Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 25, 2026

LPS and ATP-induced Death of PMA-differentiated THP-1 Macrophages and its Validation
Published on: May 3, 2024
What makes killing wrong?
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong1, Franklin G Miller
1Department of Philosophy and Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. ws66@duke.edu
Abstract:
What makes an act of killing morally wrong is not that the act causes loss of life or consciousness but rather that the act causes loss of all remaining abilities. This account implies that it is not even pro tanto morally wrong to kill patients who are universally and irreversibly disabled, because they have no abilities to lose. Applied to vital organ transplantation, this account undermines the dead donor rule and shows how current practices are compatible with morality.
Related Concept Videos
Torts II
Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development
Pre-Conventional Level
At the pre-conventional level, morality is primarily driven by personal consequences. In Stage...
Milgram's Obedience to Authority
Aggression
Overview of Cell Death
Cell death was observed in the early 19th century, but there was no experimental evidence to prove it. In 1842, Carl Vogt first discovered cell death in a metamorphic toad; however, it was not termed ‘cell death.’ Scientists discovered different cell death pathways only in the 20th century...
Torts I
Intentional...

