Aggregation and Fairness

Due to limited resources in medical care (e.g. staff, donor organs, or drugs), it constantly comes to situations, where not all can be saved. Among many other factors, decisions in such situations raise the question if the number of saved persons is morally relevant or not? The workshop "Aggregation and Fairness" at the Centre for Advanced in Bioethics seeks to clarify central problems of the "Do numbers count?" debate. The workshop will take place on 5–6 September 2013 at room GE 1.32 (Geiststrasse 24–26). If you are interested in participating, please contact the office of the Centre.

Aggregation and Fairness

What should we do if we can save either a smaller or a larger group of persons? Since John Taurek’s seminal article “Should the numbers count?”, it has been widely discussed whether it is morally important how many persons are affected by decisions in trade-off situations.

Arguments for saving the greater number are usually taken to rely on aggregationist assumptions. Yet those who argue that one should decide whom to save on the basis of a randomized procedure emphasize the importance of giving everyone a fair chance to be saved.

The aim of the workshop is to contribute to a better understanding of what lies at the heart of this debate by exploring the moral significance of aggregation and fairness as well as the relation between the two.

Programme