ABSTRACT
Donor implies a donation, and the paradigm of donation is a conscious act of giving. Giving, after all, is not a legal or even moral duty, but a good thing for good people to do. If, then, donating organs for transplant is beyond the call of even moral, much less legal, duty, of course society should leave it to individuals to make private, personal decisions about whether to donate. Besides people's language about donation, another immediate conceptual barrier to thinking in terms of a moral duty to contribute is that they do not think everyone ought to donate their organs. There are those who religiously or conscientiously object, for example. Transplantable organs often confer huge benefits on their recipients, and unless one has religious or ethical objections against contribution, contributing is a very easy thing to do in terms of time, effort, life plans, and effects on one's other duties.
