Double Effect Doctrine

A doctor gives a dying patient enough morphine to stop the pain, knowing it may also shorten the life. The doctrine that judges this says: look at what was intended, not merely at what was foreseen.

Separate the two carefully — the doctrine's whole wisdom is in the separation. An effect you aim at is different, morally, from an effect you accept as a side cost while aiming at something good. The bomber who targets a school and the general who strikes beside it may produce the same ruins; they did not do the same thing.

The doctrine has limits worth remembering: the side effect must not be the means, and the good must outweigh the harm. "I didn't intend it" is not a universal washing of hands.

Used honestly, this is a fine instrument for judging yourself. Before any act with a known cost, ask: am I willing to say the cost aloud, by name? If you cannot name it, you are not accepting a side effect. You are hiding an intention.