Above all else

Primum non nocere  is a Latin phrase that means “first, do no harm”. Otherwise known as non-maleficence, it is one of the central tenets of bioethics, and is widely adopted in healthcare to handle the many difficult decisions therein. Non-maleficence probably makes sense in healthcare, where there is perhaps a human tendency to over-intervene, and in an arena where severe outcomes to life and limb (and unintended consequences) can't always be predicted with certainty. But more broadly in life, what do we do when faced with difficult decisions? Does the maxim of “first, do no harm” work?  Consider the classic moral dilemma of the trolley problem. A trolley is headed down a track that will cause it to run over 5 people. If you throw the track switch, the trolley will switch to another track where it will only run over 1 person. Non-maleficence might suggest, do nothing. Utilitarianism might suggest that we have a moral obligation to throw the switch. 1 death is better than 5. A