Sources & Extracts

Review this excerpt and then go back to the main thread.

David Wong explains his view as follows:

It is quite possible that there is no general procedure for drawing neat boundaries of the sphere of actions with which one is not to interfere. [One], however, can still weigh conflicting prima facie duties, according to the moral significance each duty acquires in the particular situation at hand. For one thing, the weight of the duty to refrain from preventing X (relative to that of the other conflicting duty) varies inversely with the degree to which nonconsenting others are harmed or have their freedom restricted. (Wong, Moral Relativity, p. 182 brackets added)