[Axe Bros.]

The Ethics of Zombie Destruction
Clearly, the most pressing question that will face us in the post-apocalypse world is this: is it morally justifiable to destroy a zombie? I contend that it is, regardless of the ethical system by which any one (assuming one is rational) chooses to abide. In this essay, I wish to address the perspective of Rule Utilitarianism.
On the surface, the answer from a utilitarian perspective is an obvious one. The vastly oversimplified summation of utilitarianism is that the ethical action in a given situation is the one that will result in the best consequences, or “most utility,” for all involved. Therefore, it becomes obvious that the destruction of zombies, as part of the process of reclamation of our world, and protection of all other living people, is not only acceptable, but in fact morally imperative. After all, as shown by Dr. Turglove when he infamously tried to “domesticate” a zombie, there are no benefits to any human in letting a zombie continue to exist, only dangers. But such an easy answer ignores the most obvious objection, namely, why should the zombies’ utility not be considered? This brings up a host of interesting questions. Is a zombie a person? And for the case in which we assume that their utility should count, what action should we take?
Regarding zombie-hood, I argue that one of those slogans, of which the folks at zombiedefense.org are so fond, is quite true: “That’s not your mother anymore.” When one uses the reference “my mother,” one rarely means simply the body from which I was born, but rather to a host of traits and memories comprising the overall identity of the woman “inhabiting” that body (I use quotes here because I do not think the body is entirely separate from the consciousness as in Cartesian Dualism, and thus not an object to be inhabited, but otherwise the wording suits my meaning). Because this is not the case, “my mother” is not an appropriate thing to call the zomblor that used to be “my mother,” before her death. It does not possess any of the collective memories, consciousness, or identity of the person who was “my mother.” These traits are what distinguish us from other living things, i.e. what make us people. Thus in general, because zombies lack these traits, they are not people, and therefore as shown above, we have a moral duty to re-kill each and every one of them in order to remake our world, and, ideally, improve it.
~ zd.o