do no harm
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Calque of Latin prīmum nōn nocēre.
Verb[edit]
do no harm (third-person singular simple present does no harm, present participle doing no harm, simple past did no harm, past participle done no harm)
- (ethics, medicine) To perform no actions which will be injurious or in any way unfavorable to another person, regardless of whether one does anything of positive benefit for that other person.
- 1889, Wilkie Collins, chapter 51, in The Legacy of Cain:
- "Oh, make your mind easy! I shall do no harm, if I do no good."
- 1999 March 29, William Safire, “Essay”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 August 2014:
- [G]et government out of the gambling business. . . . These officials pervert public policy, which should at least do no harm.
- 2005, Patricia Illingworth, Trusting Medicine: The Moral Costs of Managed Care, Routledge, →ISBN, page 100:
- First, consider the moral minimum, do no harm.
- 2008 December 20, Judith D. Schwartz, “Making Hospitals Greener — and Patients Healthier”, in Time, retrieved 18 August 2014:
- A doctor's principle code is, "First, do no harm."
- 2012, A. Bame Nsamenang, editor, Handbook of African Educational Theories and Practices, →ISBN, page 100:
- Hence, some people consider non-maleficence to be the most basic of all the cardinal principles of ethics; it lays down the least minimum condition for ethical correctness, as if to say: "even if you would not do good, at least do no harm."
Usage notes[edit]
- In medicine, often used in the imperative mood as a formulation of the Hippocratic Oath.
- In philosophy, often used in the imperative mood as a formulation of the moral minimum.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- “do no harm”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.