Item 3 in Truth By Reason Master Ethical Code
Avoid Unjustified Harm and Protect Life
Do not intentionally kill, injure, torture, abuse or expose others to serious avoidable danger.
- Position
- 3
- Form
- Mixed formulation
- Obligation
- Context-dependent
- Wording status
- Translation
- Intended audience
- Everyone
- Last reviewed
- 28 June 2026
Names and terminology
Canonical name: Avoid Unjustified Harm and Protect Life
Source wording
<p>Do not intentionally kill, injure, torture, abuse or expose others to serious avoidable danger.</p>
Literal meaning
Do not intentionally kill, injure, torture, abuse or expose others to serious avoidable danger.
Broader interpretation
When harm cannot be fully avoided, choose the necessary, proportionate and least damaging effective option.
Practical meaning
Do not intentionally kill, injure, torture, abuse or expose others to serious avoidable danger.
Ethical purpose
When harm cannot be fully avoided, choose the necessary, proportionate and least damaging effective option.
Modern application
Apply this principle to personal conduct, organisations and public policy, with particular attention to people and beings who carry the greatest risks while holding the least power.
Criticism and difficult cases
This principle may conflict with other duties. It should therefore be applied with evidence, proportionality, role reversal, attention to power and review of foreseeable consequences.
Truth By Reason analysis
When harm cannot be fully avoided, choose the necessary, proportionate and least damaging effective option.
Sources
- Truth By Reason Comparative Ethical Codes Synthesis Primary source