PHIL 150 Moral Aspects of Decision Making

How should you act when any course of action would contradict the rules of morality? This situation is the question of dirty hands. It is connected to the doctrine of double effect: the claim that although willing evil as a means to some good result is always wrong, it is permissible to cause evil as a side effect while aiming at a good result. Discussions include practical issues, such as democracy's combat against terrorism; and theoretical issues, such as the difference between action and omission, and the connection between goodwill and good (or bad) results.