A doctor saves lives, but he is a murderer in normal life. Is he good or bad? Or Both? [on hold]












2















Is he or is he not? Does the society accept him/her like that? This question came up to my mind when my father mentioned about a professional killer whose nickname was The Iceman.



PS. Don't know what about the tags.. could you please help me with them.
Thank you in advance.










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put on hold as primarily opinion-based by virmaior, Mozibur Ullah, Jishin Noben, Bread, Swami Vishwananda 12 hours ago


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.














  • 1





    You can save lives in your day job because it's your day job, but being a "murderer in normal life" suggests malevolent intent. If intention is important in moral assessment, then that would lean towards bad. I think we'd need you to elaborate a bit on your idea of "normal life", though, because it kinda risks begging the question. If you're assuming that he's "normally" a murderer, rather than "normally" a doctor, then you've probably already made your mind up!

    – Paul Ross
    18 hours ago






  • 1





    Possible duplicate of Are there any non-divine objective standards of good/evil?

    – Bread
    16 hours ago











  • You mean like Harold Shipman? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shipman

    – Neil
    13 hours ago











  • Ted Bundy volunteered at Seattle’s Suicide Hotline Crisis center, and wrote a rape prevention pamphlet. Was he good or evil?

    – NonCreature0714
    12 hours ago











  • The easiest way to avoid the conundrum is to judge people as good as their worst traits. A murderer is a bad person regardless of what else they do.

    – Cell
    11 hours ago
















2















Is he or is he not? Does the society accept him/her like that? This question came up to my mind when my father mentioned about a professional killer whose nickname was The Iceman.



PS. Don't know what about the tags.. could you please help me with them.
Thank you in advance.










share|improve this question







New contributor




Balttazarr is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











put on hold as primarily opinion-based by virmaior, Mozibur Ullah, Jishin Noben, Bread, Swami Vishwananda 12 hours ago


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.














  • 1





    You can save lives in your day job because it's your day job, but being a "murderer in normal life" suggests malevolent intent. If intention is important in moral assessment, then that would lean towards bad. I think we'd need you to elaborate a bit on your idea of "normal life", though, because it kinda risks begging the question. If you're assuming that he's "normally" a murderer, rather than "normally" a doctor, then you've probably already made your mind up!

    – Paul Ross
    18 hours ago






  • 1





    Possible duplicate of Are there any non-divine objective standards of good/evil?

    – Bread
    16 hours ago











  • You mean like Harold Shipman? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shipman

    – Neil
    13 hours ago











  • Ted Bundy volunteered at Seattle’s Suicide Hotline Crisis center, and wrote a rape prevention pamphlet. Was he good or evil?

    – NonCreature0714
    12 hours ago











  • The easiest way to avoid the conundrum is to judge people as good as their worst traits. A murderer is a bad person regardless of what else they do.

    – Cell
    11 hours ago














2












2








2








Is he or is he not? Does the society accept him/her like that? This question came up to my mind when my father mentioned about a professional killer whose nickname was The Iceman.



PS. Don't know what about the tags.. could you please help me with them.
Thank you in advance.










share|improve this question







New contributor




Balttazarr is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












Is he or is he not? Does the society accept him/her like that? This question came up to my mind when my father mentioned about a professional killer whose nickname was The Iceman.



PS. Don't know what about the tags.. could you please help me with them.
Thank you in advance.







ethics






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Balttazarr is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question







New contributor




Balttazarr is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









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Balttazarr is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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asked 19 hours ago









BalttazarrBalttazarr

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253




New contributor




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New contributor





Balttazarr is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






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Check out our Code of Conduct.




put on hold as primarily opinion-based by virmaior, Mozibur Ullah, Jishin Noben, Bread, Swami Vishwananda 12 hours ago


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.









put on hold as primarily opinion-based by virmaior, Mozibur Ullah, Jishin Noben, Bread, Swami Vishwananda 12 hours ago


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.










  • 1





    You can save lives in your day job because it's your day job, but being a "murderer in normal life" suggests malevolent intent. If intention is important in moral assessment, then that would lean towards bad. I think we'd need you to elaborate a bit on your idea of "normal life", though, because it kinda risks begging the question. If you're assuming that he's "normally" a murderer, rather than "normally" a doctor, then you've probably already made your mind up!

    – Paul Ross
    18 hours ago






  • 1





    Possible duplicate of Are there any non-divine objective standards of good/evil?

    – Bread
    16 hours ago











  • You mean like Harold Shipman? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shipman

    – Neil
    13 hours ago











  • Ted Bundy volunteered at Seattle’s Suicide Hotline Crisis center, and wrote a rape prevention pamphlet. Was he good or evil?

    – NonCreature0714
    12 hours ago











  • The easiest way to avoid the conundrum is to judge people as good as their worst traits. A murderer is a bad person regardless of what else they do.

    – Cell
    11 hours ago














  • 1





    You can save lives in your day job because it's your day job, but being a "murderer in normal life" suggests malevolent intent. If intention is important in moral assessment, then that would lean towards bad. I think we'd need you to elaborate a bit on your idea of "normal life", though, because it kinda risks begging the question. If you're assuming that he's "normally" a murderer, rather than "normally" a doctor, then you've probably already made your mind up!

    – Paul Ross
    18 hours ago






  • 1





    Possible duplicate of Are there any non-divine objective standards of good/evil?

    – Bread
    16 hours ago











  • You mean like Harold Shipman? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shipman

    – Neil
    13 hours ago











  • Ted Bundy volunteered at Seattle’s Suicide Hotline Crisis center, and wrote a rape prevention pamphlet. Was he good or evil?

    – NonCreature0714
    12 hours ago











  • The easiest way to avoid the conundrum is to judge people as good as their worst traits. A murderer is a bad person regardless of what else they do.

    – Cell
    11 hours ago








1




1





You can save lives in your day job because it's your day job, but being a "murderer in normal life" suggests malevolent intent. If intention is important in moral assessment, then that would lean towards bad. I think we'd need you to elaborate a bit on your idea of "normal life", though, because it kinda risks begging the question. If you're assuming that he's "normally" a murderer, rather than "normally" a doctor, then you've probably already made your mind up!

– Paul Ross
18 hours ago





You can save lives in your day job because it's your day job, but being a "murderer in normal life" suggests malevolent intent. If intention is important in moral assessment, then that would lean towards bad. I think we'd need you to elaborate a bit on your idea of "normal life", though, because it kinda risks begging the question. If you're assuming that he's "normally" a murderer, rather than "normally" a doctor, then you've probably already made your mind up!

– Paul Ross
18 hours ago




1




1





Possible duplicate of Are there any non-divine objective standards of good/evil?

– Bread
16 hours ago





Possible duplicate of Are there any non-divine objective standards of good/evil?

– Bread
16 hours ago













You mean like Harold Shipman? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shipman

– Neil
13 hours ago





You mean like Harold Shipman? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shipman

– Neil
13 hours ago













Ted Bundy volunteered at Seattle’s Suicide Hotline Crisis center, and wrote a rape prevention pamphlet. Was he good or evil?

– NonCreature0714
12 hours ago





Ted Bundy volunteered at Seattle’s Suicide Hotline Crisis center, and wrote a rape prevention pamphlet. Was he good or evil?

– NonCreature0714
12 hours ago













The easiest way to avoid the conundrum is to judge people as good as their worst traits. A murderer is a bad person regardless of what else they do.

– Cell
11 hours ago





The easiest way to avoid the conundrum is to judge people as good as their worst traits. A murderer is a bad person regardless of what else they do.

– Cell
11 hours ago










4 Answers
4






active

oldest

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5














'Good man' is a comprehensive, all things considered judgement or assessment. I'm not sure that this is possible on the slender data supplied.



Suppose the doctor saved a great many lives in his professional capacity, but only because as a member of a team he could not avoid doing so (he would much rather have let the patients die or actually killed them) and his murders inflict suffering for his/ her personal pleasure. This is hardly the picture of a good man.



But the situation could be different. The doctor might be totally dedicated to saving the lives of patients wherever possible and murder purely when he morally considered mercy killing to be justified or even required in the interests of alleviating suffering. It would not be totally implausible to describe such a doctor as a good man. (He might have an erroneous conscience in the case of mercy killing but that bare fact would not make him a bad man. There is moral virtue in following one's conscience.)



So I think the judgement swings one way or another depending on the circumstances : 'circumstances alter cases'. We would need more data about the doctor than the question provides.






share|improve this answer































    1














    Calling such a person "good" would be quite a stretch, even for a utilitarian. If all the people he kills are murderers themselves, then one could argue that he's helping society. (However, there are a number of arguments against such a judgment.)



    However, the great majority of doctors save lives and do not murder people. In fact, the medical profession has a pretty strict code of ethics which ought to make murder even more unpalatable. I think most doctors would therefore call this guy a "bad doctor."



    In fact, if his crimes were disclosed, he would likely lose his license and would almost certainly wind up in prison.



    Saving lives might be a good trait, but if this guy was in prison, could his patients not be saved by other doctors?



    Verdict: This doctor is bad.






    share|improve this answer































      1














      Let's say this man saved 100 lives as a doctor, and murdered three people. It would be tempting to say "society is 97 lives ahead, so he is a good man."



      But that is wrong. If he didn't work as a doctor, someone else would have done his job, and those 100 lives would have been saved anyway. And the doctor is paid to save lives, the taxpayers that fund him have just as much to do with the saving of lives as he does. He doesn't save lives to be a good person, he saves them because that's his job. I know a car mechanic who saved the lives of hundreds of cars. There is no reason why you would think the doctor is a better person than the car mechanic.



      So no, he is just evil and nothing else.






      share|improve this answer































        0














        Society's judgements/reasonings about such matters can be goofy, whereby your question's relative merits/demerits can't really be quantitatively assessed to arrive at an unambiguous conclusion. Not directly related to your question, but addressing the goofiness contributing to its unaddressability, is the following (apparently true) story...



        On Oct 13, 1943, poet and Jehovah's Witness Robert Lowell was
        sentenced to a year in New York's West Street jail for evading
        the draft. There he met Murder Inc's Louis ("Czar") Lepke, who
        mentioned, "I'm in jail for killing somebody, why are you here?"
        Lowell replied, "I'm in jail for refusing to kill anybody."






        share|improve this answer






























          4 Answers
          4






          active

          oldest

          votes








          4 Answers
          4






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          5














          'Good man' is a comprehensive, all things considered judgement or assessment. I'm not sure that this is possible on the slender data supplied.



          Suppose the doctor saved a great many lives in his professional capacity, but only because as a member of a team he could not avoid doing so (he would much rather have let the patients die or actually killed them) and his murders inflict suffering for his/ her personal pleasure. This is hardly the picture of a good man.



          But the situation could be different. The doctor might be totally dedicated to saving the lives of patients wherever possible and murder purely when he morally considered mercy killing to be justified or even required in the interests of alleviating suffering. It would not be totally implausible to describe such a doctor as a good man. (He might have an erroneous conscience in the case of mercy killing but that bare fact would not make him a bad man. There is moral virtue in following one's conscience.)



          So I think the judgement swings one way or another depending on the circumstances : 'circumstances alter cases'. We would need more data about the doctor than the question provides.






          share|improve this answer




























            5














            'Good man' is a comprehensive, all things considered judgement or assessment. I'm not sure that this is possible on the slender data supplied.



            Suppose the doctor saved a great many lives in his professional capacity, but only because as a member of a team he could not avoid doing so (he would much rather have let the patients die or actually killed them) and his murders inflict suffering for his/ her personal pleasure. This is hardly the picture of a good man.



            But the situation could be different. The doctor might be totally dedicated to saving the lives of patients wherever possible and murder purely when he morally considered mercy killing to be justified or even required in the interests of alleviating suffering. It would not be totally implausible to describe such a doctor as a good man. (He might have an erroneous conscience in the case of mercy killing but that bare fact would not make him a bad man. There is moral virtue in following one's conscience.)



            So I think the judgement swings one way or another depending on the circumstances : 'circumstances alter cases'. We would need more data about the doctor than the question provides.






            share|improve this answer


























              5












              5








              5







              'Good man' is a comprehensive, all things considered judgement or assessment. I'm not sure that this is possible on the slender data supplied.



              Suppose the doctor saved a great many lives in his professional capacity, but only because as a member of a team he could not avoid doing so (he would much rather have let the patients die or actually killed them) and his murders inflict suffering for his/ her personal pleasure. This is hardly the picture of a good man.



              But the situation could be different. The doctor might be totally dedicated to saving the lives of patients wherever possible and murder purely when he morally considered mercy killing to be justified or even required in the interests of alleviating suffering. It would not be totally implausible to describe such a doctor as a good man. (He might have an erroneous conscience in the case of mercy killing but that bare fact would not make him a bad man. There is moral virtue in following one's conscience.)



              So I think the judgement swings one way or another depending on the circumstances : 'circumstances alter cases'. We would need more data about the doctor than the question provides.






              share|improve this answer













              'Good man' is a comprehensive, all things considered judgement or assessment. I'm not sure that this is possible on the slender data supplied.



              Suppose the doctor saved a great many lives in his professional capacity, but only because as a member of a team he could not avoid doing so (he would much rather have let the patients die or actually killed them) and his murders inflict suffering for his/ her personal pleasure. This is hardly the picture of a good man.



              But the situation could be different. The doctor might be totally dedicated to saving the lives of patients wherever possible and murder purely when he morally considered mercy killing to be justified or even required in the interests of alleviating suffering. It would not be totally implausible to describe such a doctor as a good man. (He might have an erroneous conscience in the case of mercy killing but that bare fact would not make him a bad man. There is moral virtue in following one's conscience.)



              So I think the judgement swings one way or another depending on the circumstances : 'circumstances alter cases'. We would need more data about the doctor than the question provides.







              share|improve this answer












              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer










              answered 14 hours ago









              Geoffrey ThomasGeoffrey Thomas

              25.6k22198




              25.6k22198























                  1














                  Calling such a person "good" would be quite a stretch, even for a utilitarian. If all the people he kills are murderers themselves, then one could argue that he's helping society. (However, there are a number of arguments against such a judgment.)



                  However, the great majority of doctors save lives and do not murder people. In fact, the medical profession has a pretty strict code of ethics which ought to make murder even more unpalatable. I think most doctors would therefore call this guy a "bad doctor."



                  In fact, if his crimes were disclosed, he would likely lose his license and would almost certainly wind up in prison.



                  Saving lives might be a good trait, but if this guy was in prison, could his patients not be saved by other doctors?



                  Verdict: This doctor is bad.






                  share|improve this answer




























                    1














                    Calling such a person "good" would be quite a stretch, even for a utilitarian. If all the people he kills are murderers themselves, then one could argue that he's helping society. (However, there are a number of arguments against such a judgment.)



                    However, the great majority of doctors save lives and do not murder people. In fact, the medical profession has a pretty strict code of ethics which ought to make murder even more unpalatable. I think most doctors would therefore call this guy a "bad doctor."



                    In fact, if his crimes were disclosed, he would likely lose his license and would almost certainly wind up in prison.



                    Saving lives might be a good trait, but if this guy was in prison, could his patients not be saved by other doctors?



                    Verdict: This doctor is bad.






                    share|improve this answer


























                      1












                      1








                      1







                      Calling such a person "good" would be quite a stretch, even for a utilitarian. If all the people he kills are murderers themselves, then one could argue that he's helping society. (However, there are a number of arguments against such a judgment.)



                      However, the great majority of doctors save lives and do not murder people. In fact, the medical profession has a pretty strict code of ethics which ought to make murder even more unpalatable. I think most doctors would therefore call this guy a "bad doctor."



                      In fact, if his crimes were disclosed, he would likely lose his license and would almost certainly wind up in prison.



                      Saving lives might be a good trait, but if this guy was in prison, could his patients not be saved by other doctors?



                      Verdict: This doctor is bad.






                      share|improve this answer













                      Calling such a person "good" would be quite a stretch, even for a utilitarian. If all the people he kills are murderers themselves, then one could argue that he's helping society. (However, there are a number of arguments against such a judgment.)



                      However, the great majority of doctors save lives and do not murder people. In fact, the medical profession has a pretty strict code of ethics which ought to make murder even more unpalatable. I think most doctors would therefore call this guy a "bad doctor."



                      In fact, if his crimes were disclosed, he would likely lose his license and would almost certainly wind up in prison.



                      Saving lives might be a good trait, but if this guy was in prison, could his patients not be saved by other doctors?



                      Verdict: This doctor is bad.







                      share|improve this answer












                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer










                      answered 15 hours ago









                      David BlomstromDavid Blomstrom

                      2,9361917




                      2,9361917























                          1














                          Let's say this man saved 100 lives as a doctor, and murdered three people. It would be tempting to say "society is 97 lives ahead, so he is a good man."



                          But that is wrong. If he didn't work as a doctor, someone else would have done his job, and those 100 lives would have been saved anyway. And the doctor is paid to save lives, the taxpayers that fund him have just as much to do with the saving of lives as he does. He doesn't save lives to be a good person, he saves them because that's his job. I know a car mechanic who saved the lives of hundreds of cars. There is no reason why you would think the doctor is a better person than the car mechanic.



                          So no, he is just evil and nothing else.






                          share|improve this answer




























                            1














                            Let's say this man saved 100 lives as a doctor, and murdered three people. It would be tempting to say "society is 97 lives ahead, so he is a good man."



                            But that is wrong. If he didn't work as a doctor, someone else would have done his job, and those 100 lives would have been saved anyway. And the doctor is paid to save lives, the taxpayers that fund him have just as much to do with the saving of lives as he does. He doesn't save lives to be a good person, he saves them because that's his job. I know a car mechanic who saved the lives of hundreds of cars. There is no reason why you would think the doctor is a better person than the car mechanic.



                            So no, he is just evil and nothing else.






                            share|improve this answer


























                              1












                              1








                              1







                              Let's say this man saved 100 lives as a doctor, and murdered three people. It would be tempting to say "society is 97 lives ahead, so he is a good man."



                              But that is wrong. If he didn't work as a doctor, someone else would have done his job, and those 100 lives would have been saved anyway. And the doctor is paid to save lives, the taxpayers that fund him have just as much to do with the saving of lives as he does. He doesn't save lives to be a good person, he saves them because that's his job. I know a car mechanic who saved the lives of hundreds of cars. There is no reason why you would think the doctor is a better person than the car mechanic.



                              So no, he is just evil and nothing else.






                              share|improve this answer













                              Let's say this man saved 100 lives as a doctor, and murdered three people. It would be tempting to say "society is 97 lives ahead, so he is a good man."



                              But that is wrong. If he didn't work as a doctor, someone else would have done his job, and those 100 lives would have been saved anyway. And the doctor is paid to save lives, the taxpayers that fund him have just as much to do with the saving of lives as he does. He doesn't save lives to be a good person, he saves them because that's his job. I know a car mechanic who saved the lives of hundreds of cars. There is no reason why you would think the doctor is a better person than the car mechanic.



                              So no, he is just evil and nothing else.







                              share|improve this answer












                              share|improve this answer



                              share|improve this answer










                              answered 13 hours ago









                              gnasher729gnasher729

                              3,10157




                              3,10157























                                  0














                                  Society's judgements/reasonings about such matters can be goofy, whereby your question's relative merits/demerits can't really be quantitatively assessed to arrive at an unambiguous conclusion. Not directly related to your question, but addressing the goofiness contributing to its unaddressability, is the following (apparently true) story...



                                  On Oct 13, 1943, poet and Jehovah's Witness Robert Lowell was
                                  sentenced to a year in New York's West Street jail for evading
                                  the draft. There he met Murder Inc's Louis ("Czar") Lepke, who
                                  mentioned, "I'm in jail for killing somebody, why are you here?"
                                  Lowell replied, "I'm in jail for refusing to kill anybody."






                                  share|improve this answer




























                                    0














                                    Society's judgements/reasonings about such matters can be goofy, whereby your question's relative merits/demerits can't really be quantitatively assessed to arrive at an unambiguous conclusion. Not directly related to your question, but addressing the goofiness contributing to its unaddressability, is the following (apparently true) story...



                                    On Oct 13, 1943, poet and Jehovah's Witness Robert Lowell was
                                    sentenced to a year in New York's West Street jail for evading
                                    the draft. There he met Murder Inc's Louis ("Czar") Lepke, who
                                    mentioned, "I'm in jail for killing somebody, why are you here?"
                                    Lowell replied, "I'm in jail for refusing to kill anybody."






                                    share|improve this answer


























                                      0












                                      0








                                      0







                                      Society's judgements/reasonings about such matters can be goofy, whereby your question's relative merits/demerits can't really be quantitatively assessed to arrive at an unambiguous conclusion. Not directly related to your question, but addressing the goofiness contributing to its unaddressability, is the following (apparently true) story...



                                      On Oct 13, 1943, poet and Jehovah's Witness Robert Lowell was
                                      sentenced to a year in New York's West Street jail for evading
                                      the draft. There he met Murder Inc's Louis ("Czar") Lepke, who
                                      mentioned, "I'm in jail for killing somebody, why are you here?"
                                      Lowell replied, "I'm in jail for refusing to kill anybody."






                                      share|improve this answer













                                      Society's judgements/reasonings about such matters can be goofy, whereby your question's relative merits/demerits can't really be quantitatively assessed to arrive at an unambiguous conclusion. Not directly related to your question, but addressing the goofiness contributing to its unaddressability, is the following (apparently true) story...



                                      On Oct 13, 1943, poet and Jehovah's Witness Robert Lowell was
                                      sentenced to a year in New York's West Street jail for evading
                                      the draft. There he met Murder Inc's Louis ("Czar") Lepke, who
                                      mentioned, "I'm in jail for killing somebody, why are you here?"
                                      Lowell replied, "I'm in jail for refusing to kill anybody."







                                      share|improve this answer












                                      share|improve this answer



                                      share|improve this answer










                                      answered 14 hours ago









                                      John ForkoshJohn Forkosh

                                      1,499610




                                      1,499610















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