Some more moral dilemmas

[Not_Me]

If I were a psychiatrist, I would be wondering whether you were then afflicted with a disorder of some sort.

Why? Her motivation was compassion, not sadism. And it was quite reasonable for a 15 year old to presume that drowning was gentler than bashing it's brains out.

Don't you think your characterization was VERY harsh?

 

[Helios]

And I dont think your INTP or at least you're the least perceptive perceptor that's ever come to my attention.

INTP's are not known to be the most perceptive in the area you are touching upon.

Otherwise you'd realised that your initial post was needlessly rude and abrasive, you dont get out of a hole by digging it deeper.

It was honest. I was never "in a hole" in the first place.

This is part of the reason I dont bother with this forum anymore, that and being told over and over that I'm a bigot. Lots of aptitude for discussion around here.

Cool.

 

[Lark]

INTP's are not known to be the most perceptive in the area you are touching upon.



It was honest. I was never "in a hole" in the first place.



Cool.

You're first point is in direct contradiction to your second, I reckon perhaps you should be consulting a psychiatrist.

 

[Usehername]

I don't have "bad days"; clearly, I am not subject to the same vicissitudes of emotion to which you are vulnerable. Again: what were you rambling on about? You would do well to address my previous post, rather than (fallaciously) question my emotional states.

Incidentally, you're not an INTJ.

Usehername practices her interwebz forum participant radar:

I will bet The TypeC Internet Community $10 that this quoted dude lives in his parent's basement, has never had a serious girlfriend, and either works part time for spending money now that he's too old for an allowance, or he doesn't have a job because no one appreciates his genius.

 

[Helios]

Usehername practices her interwebz forum participant radar:

I will bet The TypeC Internet Community $10 that this quoted dude lives in his parent's basement, has never had a serious girlfriend, and either works part time for spending money now that he's too old for an allowance, or he doesn't have a job because no one appreciates his genius.

It is regrettable that you wish to personally insult me rather than address any point I have made; this, then, is an instance of argumentum ad hominem. Such a jejune approach to discussion only further suggests to me that you have been typed incorrectly, and, moreover, are emotionally invested in our exchange. I fail to see why such apparent dislike and unpleasantness should arise out of anything I have said. As far as your insult goes, it isn't especially original: you could have at least avoided stereotyping.

However, whilst unnecessary, I will answer your accusations directly: my parents do not own homes which have a basement; I have never had, and nor do I intend to have, a serious romantic relationship with a member of either gender (it is intriguing that you appear to believe that not participating in romantic relationships is something worthy of derision); and I do not work, due to the lack of employment opportunities in the area surrounding the university I attend, the intensity of the course at that university in which I am enrolled and my enthusiasm for succeeding in that course.

 

[Helios]

You're first point is in direct contradiction to your second, I reckon perhaps you should be consulting a psychiatrist.

The two propositions to which you refer are not inconsistent with one another in the slightest. Your nonchalant attitude to psychological illness is noted. Since you seem rather angry, our exchange within this thread terminates here.

 

[Vie]

10. I'd kick people off, including myself and take turns hanging on to the side of the boat kicking in hopes of moving the boat faster towards safety. In doing such, I would also rotate those who were swiming along side the boat and those in the boat. Rotating is fair, in my opinion. Equal chance of dying for everyone.

9. If she was of stable mind and truly was terminal, then I would drug her enough to let her pass. This would of course be if it was the only option available to 'help' her.

8. Even as an African child, I feel as though I would know better than to listen to a dream that came to me after literally slaving away hours of my life in horrible conditions. I'd wake up the next morning, curse my life, and make another fucking rug cause I have no choice.

7. Save my son. Oddly enough, I didn't even have to think about that one.

6. I'd probably give all of the money back. Or if I truly was on the brink of death as my family, I'd take a bit of the money but give most of the money back. I'd tell them that in falling off the truck, some of the money floated away. They shouldn't complain, being as they get their sack of money back those careless idiots.

5. Separate rooms. Though I would find it strange that a fourteen year old boy wouldn't want the pink taco, personally. I'd let my husband deal with him.

4. Whoever has the most to live for takes it. This means children, family, job, etc.

3. Convict. Get the child back. Convict kidnappers, and release 'robber'. If convicting the kidnappers is out, then I'd move the 'robber' to witness protection as to disappear him, so the kidnappers still believe he is locked up. And that 'robber' better be okay with that and grateful, and the kidnappers better be dumb. At least in a perfect world, hahaha.

2. Leave my uncle.

1. Nudge that dude out of my way, he better get going pretty damn fast, but I'd slow down. A bit.


Sophie's Choice --- Send the child who is the most unlikely to survive anyways.

 

[Vie]

This is quite depraved. Drowning, by all accounts, is an incredibly painful experience, and it chills me to imagine the episode; it would have been much more humane to have killed it with the rock. Better still, you could have contacted, or had someone else contact for you, a vet.

If I were a psychiatrist, I would be wondering whether you were then afflicted with a disorder of some sort.

If a 'child' was to kill an animal in such a manner for their own pleasure as often do people 'afflicted with a disorder of some sort', then I can see where you are coming from. But as this was posted in a thread about moral dilemmas, you're argument is sort of ridiculous especially considering in her post she makes it clear that she believed she was doing the right thing and that still today, the memory bothers her. Being that she was able to feel such empathy at the time for the kitten, one can assume that she was not killing the animal as a sadistic sport. Although killing the poor thing with a rock would have been faster, emotions at seeing such a creature in pain tends to cloud one's judgement, no matter how rational especially at such an age.

 

[Lark]

Great topic for a thread. I love these.

10 Overcrowded Lifeboat

I wouldnt throw anyone overboard, perhaps if someone died in the boats we could take a survivor from the water but that's it. In large part my decision would be guided by the practical/objective question of whether or not throwing someone overboard is feasible, it wont be, they will fight for their lives, as I would expect them to and would hope they would, so I wouldnt interfer with them.

9 Painful Wife

No. I wouldnt kill them.

8 Slave’s Dream

I would be pleased that God honoured me with an audience. So much that the other questions would be moot.

7 Debt to your Friend

I wouldnt be standing around to witness death on the tracks. I'd be getting a head start on the summary justice I'd dispense on whoever tied them to the tracks.

6 Happening upon Money

​

Finders keepers on any lost cash. Dont even need to be starving or anything like that. Perhaps I'd be concerned that the cash belonged to a mob boss or drug pusher and they'd come after me but my spending wouldnt change much so they'd never be able to tell.

5 Daughter’s Sleepover

I'd obviously raise a daughter who wasnt going to be so easy, from what's said here its a platonic relationship, they dont turn to sex so easily, no matter how curious the teenagers. Its not just a matter of resisting temptation. I'm biased because in some sense "I was that soldier", I stayed over with a female friend a couple of times like this, that said she was older and more morally strict than even myself. Parental supervision isnt going to end at inviting someone into the home either. To be honest if the worst happened and they did act on some mutual desire daughter and I would have to deal with that, possibly even male friend's parents and male friend too.

A sleepover and sexual activity arent straight corollates, neither, in this day and age, is the fact that they are members of the opposite sex. Maybe its just me but I'd be glad if this dilemma existed because I'd be confident that my child was heterosexual.

4 Choice for the Cure

I'd take the medicine, I'd pray for my friend and mourn them. I'd not experience any neurotic guilt.

3 Judge’s Abducted Daughter

I'd be sure that the child was dead already. As is the case in the majority of hostage situations. It would be time to track the f**kers down for an old fashioned seperating of the head from the body.

2 Paramedic’s Uncle

I'd respond to the boy, then try and help my uncle.

1 Man Crossing the Road

In this situation, I would break to save the pedestrian, then I'd throw the car into reverse and try and plough the dick with the gun. Better to go out fighting.

+ Sophie’s Choice

This is a true story that happened in World War 2. You are an inmate, imprisoned in a concentration camp. A guard tells you that you must choose one of your two children for him to take to the gas chamber. If you choose neither, he will take them both. What would you do? (Apparently, Sophie told him to take her younger daughter, she lost track of her older son, and she later committed suicide from the guilt of having chosen between her children).

Did this definitely happen? Anyway, I've heard other examples of it too, its a psychopath playing a game with their victim and the choice is unimportant, at the very best making a choice will only mean a momentary reprieve for whoever has survived as a result of the choice. My real choice would be to live long enough to kill the bastard messing with me.

 

[Lark]

The two propositions to which you refer are not inconsistent with one another in the slightest. Your nonchalant attitude to psychological illness is noted. Since you seem rather angry, our exchange within this thread terminates here.

Yeah, you're projecting and misjudging anger but that is unsurprising, you are seeking to portray yourself as rational and logical when in fact you are mind blind and very possibly autistic. That is if your supposed misunderstanding of others reactions to your posting behaviour are sincere. I dont believe that they are.

I think you are a troll who seeks to deploy complex text and argumentation to conceal and minimise the true intent of your posting, possibly to impress intellect or intelligence upon others and therefore yourself through feedback. You are small fish buddy.

Can I help you?

 

[Lark]

Here's a pretty good moral dilemma, there's a dictator who has been responsible for a genocidal reign of terror, think Hitler style machinations, and they have been apprehended, however, they have experienced irrefutable amnesia, to all intents and purposes they do not remember the life they lived or crimes they committed.

Do they get executed for the crimes they have committed?

 

[Kurt.Is.God]

(Late)
No. An individual is the sum of his/her experiences. The amnesiac dictator never lived his former life and so never had those experiences which made him choose to reign in terror. He's essentially not the same guy.

 

[Such Irony]

Here's some more moral dilemmas to ponder over:

http://listverse.com/2011/04/18/10-more-moral-dilemmas/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheListUniverse+%28The+List+Universe%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

by David Hopkins
Morality is fun to debate. At the end of last December, I posted a list of another 10 dilemmas. By the comments submitted, I realize many did not feel that they had sufficient debatable merit. Therefore, I have posted 10 more, which I think will be more thought provoking and agonizing than my first list. Please tell us what you would do in each scenario via comments.


10
Doctor’s Sick Patients


You are a very skilled doctor with five dying patients, each of whom needs a different organ in order to live. Unfortunately, there are no organs available to perform any of the transplants. It just so happens that you have a sixth dying patient, suffering from a fatal illness, who will die sooner than the other five if not treated. If this sixth patient dies, you will be able to use his organs to save the five other patients. However, you have a medicine you can give to this sixth patient that will cure his illness and he won’t die. Would you:

a: Wait for the patient to die and then harvest his organs or
b: Save the patient even though the other patients won’t get organs.

If you chose to administer the medicine, would you still do so even if the medicine will not cure the patient, but, instead, delay his death to some short term future date or time after the five patients will have died? Why?


(I'd do a. More likely to save more people)


9
Robin Hood Robber


You have witnessed a man rob a bank, but then, he did something completely unusual and unexpected with the money. He donated it to an orphanage that was poor, run-down and lacking in proper food, care, water and amenities. The sum of money would be a great benefit to the orphanage, and the children’s lives would turn from poor to prosperous. Would you:

a: Call the police and report the robber, even though they would likely take the money away from the orphanage, or
b: Do nothing and leave the robber and the orphans alone?

(I'd initially do b. Once the orphans became more prosperous and lived more comfortable lives, I'd then report the robber)


8
Friend’s Wedding


Your best friend is about to get married. The ceremony will be performed in one hour, but you have seen, just before coming to the wedding, that your friend’s fiancee has been having an affair. If your friend marries this woman, she is unlikely to be faithful, but on the other hand, if you tell your friend about the affair, you will ruin his wedding. Would you, or would you not, tell your friend of the affair?

(I'd tell the friend about the affair as painful as it would be. Better off that the friend knows before the wedding rather than after the wedding and have the wedding be all for nought.)

7
Plagiarized Report


You are head of a student council at a high school, and are faced with a difficult decision regarding a grade-twelve girl’s risky, last-resort choice. This girl is an honor student. All through her academic years, she has obtained straight A’s, has many friends and has never been disciplined by the principal. However, near the end of her grade twelve year, she fell ill with the flu and fell way behind in her school work. She missed three weeks of class, which resulted in her having to rush a report that would be worth 40% of English, a required graduation subject in her curriculum. She was so desperate about the report that she went online and passed off a report she found on that subject as her own. Her English teacher caught her and has referred her to you. If you enter on her academic record that she plagiarized, she will likely not be eligible to be accepted into St. Steven’s University, a school she has dreamed of attending all through high school and needs in order to fulfill her academic and future dreams.
What would you do?

(I wouldn't enter the plagiarism on her academic record since I'm such a softy. I would require that the student redo the assignment and also make the student write an essay on why plagiarism is wrong. If the student did these successfully without plagiarizing, I'd give her the minimum passing grade).


6
Photo Shop


You are a developer at a photo outlet. There have been six instances over the past several weeks in which the same parents have taken film to you for developing. In those pictures you have processed, you have seen those parents with a little boy, obviously their young son. In three of those six cases, the child appeared to be injured in some way. One time, he had a bruise, one time he had a burn, one time he had multiple bruises and a cast. The first time you saw him with some degree of injury, you just thought to yourself, “Well, kids will be kids,” but, now that you have seen him this way three out of six times, you are starting to grow concerned that these parents could be abusing their child.

You know the policy at your outlet is to “Report questionable photos”, but you fear that if you do so, the police will take outrageous measures to try to “protect” this child. The parents could be totally innocent after all, but a child protective agency may take the child without any thought. This would leave the parents facing criminal charges, an expensive court case and possibly have to keep fighting to win their child back, even if found not guilty.

On the other hand, maybe the parents are harming their son and to not intervene would mean he will have to endure more of this cruel treatment, maybe indefinitely.
You consider asking his parents what the relationship is between them and their child, but for all you know, they might just lie to protect themselves.
What would you do?

(I'd report the photos but state that this doesn't mean there's solid proof of guilt.)


5
Fountain of Youth


A man/woman (whichever is opposite your gender), is immortal, because (s)he and his/her family have drank from a fountain of youth, not knowing what it was. You are now in love with this person and have felt this way long enough that you know (s)he to be your destiny. However, the only way you can stay together forever is if you drink from the fountain of youth and become immortal, too. If you do this, however, your family and everyone else you know will grow old and eventually die, and you will never be reunited in heaven with them, or your loved ones that you have known, who have already died. On the other hand, if you don’t drink from the fountain, you will grow old and eventually die, and the person with whom you are in love will never see you again, and be condemned to an eternity of loneliness and only memories of you. What would you do?
(From Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt)

(I probably wouldn't drink it as I'm not sure I'd want to be immortal. I don't believe in heaven anyway.)

4
Concentration Camp, Revised


You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape, and is telling you to pull the chair out from under him. He says that if you don’t do so, the guard will kill not only your son who tried to escape, but also your other son, who is another innocent inmate. You have no doubt that he means what he says. What would you do?

(I seriously don't know what I'd do.)

3
Son and Granddaughter


There is a train that, much to your horror, is about to run over your grown up son, who has been tied to its track. It just so happens that you have just enough time to flip a switch that will send the train down a different track, saving your son. However, tied to the other track, is your granddaughter, the daughter of the very son in danger of being run over. Your son is begging and pleading with you not to flip the switch, not to kill his daughter. What would you do?

(I'd respect my son's wishes to sacrifice his own life to save his daughter. I wouldn't flip the switch.)


2
Son’s Sacrifice


A very evil, uncontrollably murderous man tried to kill your son as a baby, but only succeeded in killing your son’s aunt and uncle, who were babysitting him. Since the murders, you fled into hiding, but now, you have discovered, in a prophecy, that when he tried to kill your son, a piece of the murderer’s soul left him and went into your son. For your son to defeat him, he must go forth and let the murderer kill him, destroying the piece of the murderer’s soul within your son. Otherwise, his piece of soul, within your son, will make the villain able to return if his body were destroyed. Your son has courageously accepted his fate and decides that he must die in order for his friends and allies to bring about the death of the villain and bring peace to the world, because it’s the only way. As his mother or father, would you:

a: Hold him back, because you love him too much to let him go, and feel you need to protect him as a parent, or
b: Accept his fate and choice just like he did and let him die. (Modified from Harry Potter by Joanne Rowling)

(As painful as it would be, I'd feel that I'd have to accept my son's wishes and let him die.)


1
Friendship


Jim has the responsibility of filling a position in his firm. His friend Paul has applied and is qualified, but someone else seems even more qualified. Jim wants to give the job to Paul, but he feels guilty, believing that he ought to be impartial. That’s the essence of morality, he initially tells himself. This belief is, however, rejected, as Jim resolves that friendship has a moral importance that permits, and perhaps even requires, partiality in some circumstances. So he gives the job to Paul. Was he right?

(I don't think there is a clear right or wrong here. I would ask to be removed from a hiring committee where I knew a friend was applying and tell the friend that the decision is not mine to make. That way the decision can be made as fairly as possible without jeopardizing the friendship.)

 

[Magic Poriferan]

10 Overcrowded Lifeboat

You are stranded with thirty people on a lifeboat that is intended to hold only seven. No one can paddle this heavy boat and it is definitely going to sink, drowning everyone inside it. It occurs to you that you can save some of the people in the lifeboat by throwing all but the strongest rowers overboard. Do you think it would be morally permissible to save some people by throwing others overboard, especially seeing that, otherwise, everyone, including those thrown overboard, would have drowned anyway?

Yes. What would be the point in letting everyone die as opposed to just a few? If there's a detail I'd add to this, it's that I'd like to get some volunteers. Maybe we can knock two or three off out of their own generous sacrifice. That makes things a tad easier.

9 Painful Wife

Your wife is suffering from a debilitating disease that has put her in constant and permanent pain and agony. Finally, one day, she decides that she really wants to die. However, her condition is such that she cannot die on her own. She is begging and pleading with you to help her commit suicide. This would, of course, be illegal. What would you do?

Yes. I can perfectly understand why someone in that situation would want to die. And in this case, it's not merely an ethical opinion, but something I honestly believe I would do in real life. I could take that risk for someone I really loved.

8 Slave’s Dream

You are a child slave in Africa, laboring away 18 hours a day making rugs. One night, you have a dream: God comes down from heaven and tells you that no one, not one person in the world, is buying your rugs. Would you feel:
a. Disappointed and anguished because you truly are going through all this slavery for nothing, or
b. Pleased because no one is benefiting from your cruel treatment.

A. I can't see how B makes sense. I'm going through the cruelty all the same, why would I want there to be even less good coming out of it?

7 Debt to your Friend

Slightly based on the trolley dilemma; there is a train that, much to your horror, is about to run over your own son, who has been tied to its track. It just so happens that you have only enough time to pull a lever which will send the train down an alternate track saving your son. However, you see that, tied to the other track, is your best friend, who recently saved your life and you have yet to repay him for doing so. What would you do?

Heh. I'm not sure I want kids anyway . But my guess is that the question assumes I care more about my son, since it specifies those extra moral details about my friend. If my son is indeed someone I care about/like more (though, in all frankness, I suspect it would be the other way around in real life), I'd save my son. Would my friend actually want me to suffer that to "repay" him/her? I hope not, if this is supposedly my best friend. I admit I don't entirely grasp the concept of moral indebtedness anyhow.

6 Happening upon Money.

You are living with your family in a scarce, poverty-stricken country. Where you live, there is no food bank, and you and your family are starving to death. One day, you are out trying to find some sort of food to nourish your family, when something miraculous (or problematic) occurs. You find a huge sack full of money that has fallen off the back of a truck. You realize this would be a fortune to your family, but there is one obvious catch. This money has to belong to someone else, and to take it and use it for your family would be stealing. You could explain your situation to the rightful owner of the money, but how can you know he’ll be a generous person? Would you:
a. Return the money to its rightful owner or
b. Take the money and use it to help your family.

Since I doubt that money was going to someone in as urgent a situation as me and my family, I'm totally keeping it.

5 Daughter’s Sleepover

One month ago, your 14-year-old daughter had a sleepover with her best female friend, which went very well and both girls had a good time. However, now, she is telling you that she is inviting her male friend over to do the same thing. Neither you, nor her, have ever viewed him as a boyfriend or an intimate partner of any kind, just a friend who happens to be male. He has agreed to come and stay with your daughter overnight, but you are worried that the event could escalate into teen sexuality and consider forbidding him to stay overnight, or telling your daughter not to invite him. Yet, you don’t want to be unfair to your daughter or her friend. She insists to you that he is just a casual friend and no sexual activity will occur. What would you do?

This one is pretty open-ended. Unfortunately it's the kind of questions that depends on so many background details like how much I trust my daughter at this point. how much I like or dislike this boy, etc.. It kind of makes the question a wash for me. Another thing, though, is that I'm not entirely sure them having sex is inherently a bad thing. If anything, I'd just have to make sure that if such a thing did happen, there'd be no risk of anything disastrous like pregnancy.

4 Choice for the Cure

You and your friend are stranded on an island. Unfortunately, you are both fatally ill. It just so happens that you have an antibiotic that can cure your illness. Sadly enough, there is just enough antibiotic to save only one person. How could you and your friend choose which one of you will take the antibiotic? Do you think that either person who takes it will, or should, feel guilty for the other person dying, although if neither of you take it, you will both die?

Again, the devil is in the details. But if this person is my friend, and presuming the illness is not rapidly crippling us, I imagine we could talk out which one of us will make the sacrifice, based essentially on who has more to live for I think. If the decision is made in that manner, and indeed only one person can live, the survivor should not feel guilty, though it's expected that they'd feel grief.

3 Judge’s Abducted Daughter

You are a Judge presiding over the trial of an alleged bank robber, who you know is innocent. However, something terrible in your life has happened: The enemies of the robber have kidnapped your 9-year-old daughter and have held her hostage. You don’t know where she is. The police have tried to locate her to no avail. The kidnappers have left you an anonymous note saying that if you convict the robber, they will set your daughter free. You fear the kidnappers could be abusing or even torturing your child. What would you do?

The heavy dose of reality here is that ransomers usually don't free their captives once their demands are met. If they are abusing her and torturing her, they'll probably just kill once I convict the robber. Of course I don't know if I'd have the nerve to do it in real life, but from this detached stand point it makes more sense to not convict.

But let's boil down to what the moral dilemma really is. What if I knew she was being abused and I knew they'd release her? I suppose I'd convict the robber, presuming his sentence is not as bad as being tortured and murdered.

2 Paramedic’s Uncle

You are a paramedic and you have been called to help a young boy who was in a car accident. On the way to the emergency, you get in an accident with your elderly uncle, who you know and love dearly. He is knocked out, but you are able to determine that he is probably not terribly injured and is likely to survive without immediate medical attention. However, if you stop to help your uncle, or even call backup, you know for sure that the boy will die. The only way you can save the boy is if you drive away immediately. Would you:
a. Stop for your uncle or
b. Leave and help the boy.

Seems like I should save the boy. His situation is more urgent. I also suppose he is a slightly more valuable being in that he has more life to live, hypothetically. It would seem the only reason to focus on my uncle is nepotism, which I don't believe in, morally.

1 Man Crossing the Road

You are speeding in your car on a one-way street, through very thick woods with a mad gunman chasing you and shooting at you from behind. Up ahead, you see a pedestrian crossing the street. You figure you have enough time to stop to let him cross, but with the thick woods, you cannot drive around him. Would you:
a. Stop to let the pedestrian cross, even though you are being shot at or
b. Hit the pedestrian and continue speeding away from the gunman.

My life vs an innocent? Tough, as I can't say I know which is the better person and I see know inherent morality in serving ones self or serving one other person. This is actually a real dilemma for me, if no other details are brought in. Questions about how easily I can avoid getting shot in my car, or what they odds are that the gunman will kill the pedestrian are, etc... change everything. Working only with what I have there, it might as well be a coin toss.

+ Sophie’s Choice

This is a true story that happened in World War 2. You are an inmate, imprisoned in a concentration camp. A guard tells you that you must choose one of your two children for him to take to the gas chamber. If you choose neither, he will take them both. What would you do? (Apparently, Sophie told him to take her younger daughter, she lost track of her older son, and she later committed suicide from the guilt of having chosen between her children).

Obviously it makes no sense to let them both die. If I could trust the guard (that's a pretty big if dealing with a Nazi, no?) I'd obviously pick one. Time to play favorites... Who do I A) Think will contribute more with their life and B) Enjoy their life more? Some calculation of that will give me my answer.

Here's some more moral dilemmas to ponder over:

10
Doctor’s Sick Patients

You are a very skilled doctor with five dying patients, each of whom needs a different organ in order to live. Unfortunately, there are no organs available to perform any of the transplants. It just so happens that you have a sixth dying patient, suffering from a fatal illness, who will die sooner than the other five if not treated. If this sixth patient dies, you will be able to use his organs to save the five other patients. However, you have a medicine you can give to this sixth patient that will cure his illness and he won’t die. Would you:

a: Wait for the patient to die and then harvest his organs or
b: Save the patient even though the other patients won’t get organs.

If you chose to administer the medicine, would you still do so even if the medicine will not cure the patient, but, instead, delay his death to some short term future date or time after the five patients will have died? Why?

Since the question specifies nothing about the comparative virtue of any of the patients, the answer is very obviously A. 1 for 5 is a very good trade. Based on what I said, the variation in which the 6th patient only survives a little while longer is patently absurd to me.

9
Robin Hood Robber

You have witnessed a man rob a bank, but then, he did something completely unusual and unexpected with the money. He donated it to an orphanage that was poor, run-down and lacking in proper food, care, water and amenities. The sum of money would be a great benefit to the orphanage, and the children’s lives would turn from poor to prosperous. Would you:

a: Call the police and report the robber, even though they would likely take the money away from the orphanage, or
b: Do nothing and leave the robber and the orphans alone?

Leave the robber be, for now. Working strictly with that information, I see the robber as a positive force.

8
Friend’s Wedding

Your best friend is about to get married. The ceremony will be performed in one hour, but you have seen, just before coming to the wedding, that your friend’s fiancee has been having an affair. If your friend marries this woman, she is unlikely to be faithful, but on the other hand, if you tell your friend about the affair, you will ruin his wedding. Would you, or would you not, tell your friend of the affair?

One hour to go? I'd tell my friend, but I just might tell them after the wedding. Is it really going to be to anyone's benefit if I blow the whole thing up right there instead of slightly after? I mean, I guess it would depend on what I know about the sentiments of my friend, but that's how I see it.

7
Plagiarized Report

You are head of a student council at a high school, and are faced with a difficult decision regarding a grade-twelve girl’s risky, last-resort choice. This girl is an honor student. All through her academic years, she has obtained straight A’s, has many friends and has never been disciplined by the principal. However, near the end of her grade twelve year, she fell ill with the flu and fell way behind in her school work. She missed three weeks of class, which resulted in her having to rush a report that would be worth 40% of English, a required graduation subject in her curriculum. She was so desperate about the report that she went online and passed off a report she found on that subject as her own. Her English teacher caught her and has referred her to you. If you enter on her academic record that she plagiarized, she will likely not be eligible to be accepted into St. Steven’s University, a school she has dreamed of attending all through high school and needs in order to fulfill her academic and future dreams.
What would you do?

This one was tough, but I decide I'd let her slide. She has a good record and the circumstance of her failure are understandable. The main thing that pushed me to forgive her, though, is the implication that the mark on her record would permanently prevent her from being accepted. If she were only set back a year or something, I'd rat her plagiarism, but I find the university's policy unproductively unforgiving. Throwing away a great talent for one desperate mistake is stupid.

6
Photo Shop

You are a developer at a photo outlet. There have been six instances over the past several weeks in which the same parents have taken film to you for developing. In those pictures you have processed, you have seen those parents with a little boy, obviously their young son. In three of those six cases, the child appeared to be injured in some way. One time, he had a bruise, one time he had a burn, one time he had multiple bruises and a cast. The first time you saw him with some degree of injury, you just thought to yourself, “Well, kids will be kids,” but, now that you have seen him this way three out of six times, you are starting to grow concerned that these parents could be abusing their child.

You know the policy at your outlet is to “Report questionable photos”, but you fear that if you do so, the police will take outrageous measures to try to “protect” this child. The parents could be totally innocent after all, but a child protective agency may take the child without any thought. This would leave the parents facing criminal charges, an expensive court case and possibly have to keep fighting to win their child back, even if found not guilty.

On the other hand, maybe the parents are harming their son and to not intervene would mean he will have to endure more of this cruel treatment, maybe indefinitely.
You consider asking his parents what the relationship is between them and their child, but for all you know, they might just lie to protect themselves.
What would you do?

I wager, based on various factors, that I'm leaning toward less risk if I report the photos.

5
Fountain of Youth

A man/woman (whichever is opposite your gender), is immortal, because (s)he and his/her family have drank from a fountain of youth, not knowing what it was. You are now in love with this person and have felt this way long enough that you know (s)he to be your destiny. However, the only way you can stay together forever is if you drink from the fountain of youth and become immortal, too. If you do this, however, your family and everyone else you know will grow old and eventually die, and you will never be reunited in heaven with them, or your loved ones that you have known, who have already died. On the other hand, if you don’t drink from the fountain, you will grow old and eventually die, and the person with whom you are in love will never see you again, and be condemned to an eternity of loneliness and only memories of you. What would you do?

(From Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt)

Drink! This was one of the easiest ones. I don't really have many people to miss, and a romantic relationship is more important to me as a personal goal. The question does not specify how my loved ones feel about this in the afterlife, but it does say how my partner would feel if I did not drink, and it says she'd be experiencing an eternity of loneliness. I wouldn't voluntarily do that to someone I love more than anyone else, especially when it hurts me, too. Again, this decision is heavily affected by how unattached I feel to most people anyway.

As a side note, the idea of immortality itself does disturb me, and that's off-putting. Would I live even after the earth is engulfed by the sun? How does that work? On the other hand, the question mentioned heaven, which is its own kind of eternity, so I'm fucked by that either way. I guess I'm still drinking.

4
Concentration Camp, Revised

You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape, and is telling you to pull the chair out from under him. He says that if you don’t do so, the guard will kill not only your son who tried to escape, but also your other son, who is another innocent inmate. You have no doubt that he means what he says. What would you do?

This is Sophie's choice, but sparing me the burden of actually making the choice and specifying that I know the guard means what he says. Thus, this is an easier version of the previous question. The moral decision is to pull the chair (though in real life the feelings against it would be very hard to overcome).

3
Son and Granddaughter


There is a train that, much to your horror, is about to run over your grown up son, who has been tied to its track. It just so happens that you have just enough time to flip a switch that will send the train down a different track, saving your son. However, tied to the other track, is your granddaughter, the daughter of the very son in danger of being run over. Your son is begging and pleading with you not to flip the switch, not to kill his daughter. What would you do?

Kill my son. He's telling me to for crying out loud. It would help to know the ages involved, though...

2
Son’s Sacrifice

A very evil, uncontrollably murderous man tried to kill your son as a baby, but only succeeded in killing your son’s aunt and uncle, who were babysitting him. Since the murders, you fled into hiding, but now, you have discovered, in a prophecy, that when he tried to kill your son, a piece of the murderer’s soul left him and went into your son. For your son to defeat him, he must go forth and let the murderer kill him, destroying the piece of the murderer’s soul within your son. Otherwise, his piece of soul, within your son, will make the villain able to return if his body were destroyed. Your son has courageously accepted his fate and decides that he must die in order for his friends and allies to bring about the death of the villain and bring peace to the world, because it’s the only way. As his mother or father, would you:

a: Hold him back, because you love him too much to let him go, and feel you need to protect him as a parent, or
b: Accept his fate and choice just like he did and let him die. (Modified from Harry Potter by Joanne Rowling)

Sounds like someone on PCP was talking to me. Assuming all of this insanity actually follows, of course I'd let my son die. His death is clearly not as costly as the result of him dying, and he himself has made peace with it, making it even less costly still. I hope I'd overcome my feelings in this case, because there's not moral justification for them.

1
Friendship

Jim has the responsibility of filling a position in his firm. His friend Paul has applied and is qualified, but someone else seems even more qualified. Jim wants to give the job to Paul, but he feels guilty, believing that he ought to be impartial. That’s the essence of morality, he initially tells himself. This belief is, however, rejected, as Jim resolves that friendship has a moral importance that permits, and perhaps even requires, partiality in some circumstances. So he gives the job to Paul. Was he right?

So many factors concerning the comparative competence of the candidates, the comparative needs of the candidates, and the role of the position. But assuming all those things are equal, friendship is not a justification for making what would otherwise be the wrong decision. It's essentially a case of do broad harm for narrow gain, based on something totally arbitrary to myself.

 

[Randomnity]

I hope you two never go into medicine, if you`re willing to murder an innocent, healthy man for his organs (a man with a completely curable disease is not `dying` by any stretch of the imagination, if treatment is available, and withholding treatment in that case is murder just as much as withholding food to starve someone to death). Even in a situation where he`ll definitely die slowly even with treatment, I`d still ask whether he wanted to donate his organs by choice, and if not then respect his wishes.

 

[Magic Poriferan]

I hope you two never go into medicine, if you`re willing to murder an innocent, healthy man for his organs (a man with a completely curable disease is not `dying` by any stretch of the imagination, if treatment is available, and withholding treatment in that case is murder just as much as withholding food to starve someone to death). Even in a situation where he`ll definitely die slowly even with treatment, I`d still ask whether he wanted to donate his organs by choice, and if not then respect his wishes.

I could see problems in the big picture in terms of actual rules of conduct stemming from the sort of precedent this thing might set and the issue of tangling out when it is or isn't valid to make that sort of sacrifice (and overseeing that those rules are actually observed). But if, like the dilemma, we are limited to that one scenario, I don't feel bad about my choice at all.