Kamm on fairness

Abstract

When you have a choice between saving five people and saving one, what is a fair way to choose? In her Morality, Mortality, Frances Kamm describes three procedures for choosing, each of which she considers fair. This paper examines her arguments for all three and rejects them. It argues that the only fair procedure is one Kamm does not recommend: to decide by tossing a coin. Nevertheless, despite the fairness of tossing a coin, you should simply save the five directly, without tossing a coin, because the greater good of saving the five is enough to override fairness.