If this is my body...: A defence of the doctrine of doing and allowing

Abstract

I defend the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing: the claim that doing harm is harder to justify than merely allowing harm. A thing does not genuinely belong to a person unless he has special authority over it. The Doctrine of Doing and Allowing protects us against harmful imposition - against the actions or needs of another intruding on what is ours. This protection is necessary for something to genuinely belong to a person. The opponent of the Doctrine must claim that nothing genuinely belongs to a person, even his own body. © 2013 The Author. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd & University of Southern California.