Sacrificing and Forgoing

Abstract

Abstract A distinction is made between what is sacrificed in helping others in distress and what is forgone in helping others in distress. What is sacrificed by saving a wreck-bound ship is the cost of towing it to safety; what is forgone is the value of the spoils on the beach if it is not towed to safety. Refusing to help the ship in order not to forgo the spoils is exploitation by omission, instrumentalizing the victims of the wreck. Neither consequentialists nor libertarians can be sensitive to the moral importance of the deontic distinction. The distinction is then applied to the relation between international corporations and the sweatshop laborers in their employ. It is concluded that the verdict “exploitative” crucially depends on the tightness of market conditions.