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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Unethical Brotherly Love: Zell Kravinsky and Maximum Human Utility

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The case of American investor and philanthropist Zell Kravinsky (1956-) presents numerous ethical challenges regarding our social responsibility to others. In 2003, after disbursing the bulk of his forty-five-million-dollar fortune to various charities, Kravinsky made the decision to donate one of his kidneys to an impoverished African-American woman he had met only once. In doing so he courageously saved a life, but also incurred the wrath of his family, friends, and many observers in the media who questioned his sanity. To Kravinsky, however, refusal to donate would have been tantamount to murder, constituting a violation of his belief in ‘maximum human utility’ – a concept that insists on taking responsibility for all others less well-off, and conflates the value of others with both one’s family and oneself. He has since stated that he would gladly give up more organs, indeed his life, to those who would better serve humanity, and argued publicly that: ‘No one should have a vacation home until everyone has a place to live,…and no one should have two kidneys until everyone has one.’ This chapter offers an examination of Kravinsky’s generous if atypical act and its philosophical moorings, exploring the issue of how his brand of utilitarianism leads to the complete devaluation of the individual.