Would you cut off your own leg if it was the only way to save another person's life?

[rav3n]

i am relieved to know im not the only person who feels this way.
amd im not sure why that is but im not prepared to lose a limb id rather just die

Mine has to do with motility and independence. Perhaps yours is something similar?

 

[Abcdenfp]

Mine has to do with motility and independence. Perhaps yours is something similar?

exactly that, independence is everything to me.

 

[Morpeko]

Would you cut off your own leg if it was the only way to save another person's life?

Depends on the person. I would be very reluctant, but I'd do it for the people in my immediate family (and then probably kill myself after). Anyone else? Fat chance.

Would you torture someone if you thought it would result in information that would prevent a bomb from exploding and killing hundreds of people?

Yeah, I don't have any moral objections toward this.

Would you politically oppress a people for a limited time if it increased the overall well-being of the citizenry?

No. Also, I really don't want to be responsible for an amount of people this large.

You are a physician with five dying patients and one healthy person in the waiting room. Would you harvest the organs of the one to save the five?

Way too apathetic to do that. However, it would be very tempting if the one healthy person were someone I hated.

 

[Fluffywolf]

1. A leg, maybe. depends on who I am saving. An arm though? Probably not. There is probably only one person I would sacrifice my arm for.

2. I would be distrustful of any information gained through torture, so no.

3. Definately not. I am not on this world to force my ideals onto others.

4. No, I wouldnt even consider it if the healthy person insisted.

 

[Sacrophagus]

Would you cut off your own leg if it was the only way to save another person's life?
-May they rest in peace.


Would you torture someone if you thought it would result in information that would prevent a bomb from exploding and killing hundreds of people?
-MK Ultra style? If peaceful ways could not extract that information, then I'll put my compassion aside for the sake of the many.


Would you politically oppress a people for a limited time if it increased the overall well-being of the citizenry?
-You mean establishing a dictatorship, or, say, a dictatorship disguised in democracy? No. I would lead the way for people who are willing to follow in order to own their own well-being. I will not take that decision in their stead.

You are a physician with five dying patients and one healthy person in the waiting room. Would you harvest the organs of the one to save the five?

If he's willing to do that, they live. If not, they die.


I wonder how that conversation would go for most of us:

"Greetings, healthy person. So, I'm someone who's not willing to cut off a leg to save the life of a stranger, but would you be kind enough to allow me to dissect you and help these dying people by taking your kidney, heart, liver, and maybe sell the rest in the black market? I swear I will stitch up your body back together and mummify it. You don't want that? You want it put in a crematorium, and have your ashes spread in the blablablabla romantic nostalgic place? Whatever, man. So that's a yes? That's a no? Fuck you. Fuck you. These poor people are dying because of you. Shame on you. Would you drink this cup of water? No, it's not poisoned that would ruin your precious organs. No, no sleeping drugs there. Sheesh, I Wonder where you got that idea from. Just drink it, man. Fuck you for not drinking it. Fuck you."

 

[Nomendei]

Would you cut off your own leg if it was the only way to save another person's life?
It depends on the person and how I have to cut off my leg. I mean, once this person is dead she won’t be able to blame me. The problem would be: What are the consequences having indirectly killed this person? Would I mentally torture myself? If no, I would him or her die. But in the other case I think I wouldn’t care too much about losing a leg. Guess I will create myself cool prosthetics that can do a lot of things. Should be careful not doing anything too illegal.

Would you torture someone if you thought it would result in information that would prevent a bomb from exploding and killing hundreds of people?
Don’t know. Whatever you do, you will be criticized. If for some reason I should torture him, I probably could detach me from my emotions. But I have never seen an explosion, should be fun to watch.

Would you politically oppress a people for a limited time if it increased the overall well-being of the citizenry?
That’s what we do here in Switzerland with our democracy. There is always a minority who is oppressed for the majority.

You are a physician with five dying patients and one healthy person in the waiting room. Would you harvest the organs of the one to save the five?
No, it is illegal. But if the law would be in my favor, then yes.

 

[StrawberryBoots]

Would you cut off your own leg if it was the only way to save another person's life?
I would.

Would you torture someone if you thought it would result in information that would prevent a bomb from exploding and killing hundreds of people?
Yes.

Would you politically oppress a people for a limited time if it increased the overall well-being of the citizenry?
No.

You are a physician with five dying patients and one healthy person in the waiting room. Would you harvest the organs of the one to save the five?
No.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Honestly ? No.


I think that I can save them far more by being able to walk. :narcisoid:

 

[Betty Blue]

Also:

Would you torture someone if you thought it would result in information that would prevent a bomb from exploding and killing hundreds of people?

Would you politically oppress a people for a limited time if it increased the overall well-being of the citizenry?

From this Scientific American article.

If you answered in the affirmative to these questions, then you might be a utilitarian, the moral system founded by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and encapsulated in the principle of “the greatest good for the greatest number.”

Modern utilitarianism is instantiated in the famous trolley thought experiment: You are standing next to a fork in a trolley track and a switch to divert a trolley car that is about to kill five workers unless you throw the switch and divert the trolley down a side track where it will kill one worker. Most people say that they would throw the switch—kill one to save five. The problem with utilitarianism is evidenced in another thought experiment: You are a physician with five dying patients and one healthy person in the waiting room. Would you harvest the organs of the one to save the five? If you answered yes, you might be a psychopathic murderer.​

Seemed like it might be good conversation fodder. Answer the questions. Or comment on the above paragraph. Whatever. I'm not the boss of you.


***

My own answers:

Would you cut off your own leg if it was the only way to save another person's life?

Highly unlikely, but it depends on my proximity to the person psychologically

Would you torture someone if you thought it would result in information that would prevent a bomb from exploding and killing hundreds of people?

Well, how do you know this will work? what if you went through the awful process of torturing someone and it turned out they were the wrong person, or didn't have the info you needed. Also tongue in cheek, what kind of torture are we talking? I can easily apply the dish rack or the comfy chair without any loss of moral superiority.

Would you politically oppress a people for a limited time if it increased the overall well-being of the citizenry?

Eh, thats a dangerous road to go down. And most who have gone down it ended as dictators....

You are a physician with five dying patients and one healthy person in the waiting room. Would you harvest the organs of the one to save the five?

This is unclear, would it most certainly save those other lives? why is one persons life worth sacrificing for others? Surely it has to be the individuals choice? Also it's such a clumsy question I think there must be alternatives. Like with most of the questions tbh. Why are we not looking at alternatives and simply accepting the options offered. I decline.

 

[Agent Washington]

<b>Would you cut off your own leg if it was the only way to save another person's life?</b>
No.

<b>Would you torture someone if you thought it would result in information that would prevent a bomb from exploding and killing hundreds of people?</b>
No.

<b>Would you politically oppress a people for a limited time if it increased the overall well-being of the citizenry?</b>
A hard maybe, and only under very specific circumstances.

<b>You are a physician with five dying patients and one healthy person in the waiting room. Would you harvest the organs of the one to save the five?</b>
All things being equal, no.

The article is long gone, but I don't think the original questions were meant to take into account personal utility or human dignity. If I knew the healthy person was a complete piece of shit and the other five are fine... Then good. I'd dismember the person and hand over their innards on a bow. Of course, it'd beg the question of whether this hypothetical I should be put into such a position in the first place, which is "probably not".

 

[Amberiat]

I wouldn't sacrifice myself like this for anyone, or anything in the world.

That being said, I would rather die than live with a handicap like this.

 

[Mind Maverick]

Would you cut off your own leg if it was the only way to save another person's life?

Yeah, I saw that episode of the show Lucifer too.

---

Living with a handicap like that wouldn't be so bad to me. I wouldn't do it for just anyone though. Depends on who it is.

Sorry, not everyone deserves that kind of sacrifice Some cases would be like asking if I would cut off my leg to save Hitler. No. No I would not. My boyfriend though? Someone I care for? Absolutely.

 

[Red Memories]

Would you cut off your own leg if it was the only way to save another person's life?: IIIiiiii wanna say yes but I have a feeling my intolerance to pain would get the best of me.

Would you torture someone if you thought it would result in information that would prevent a bomb from exploding and killing hundreds of people? If I'm honest: Iiiii have a hard time with this because do we really know this person is actually knowledgeable? Do we really know torture will in fact make them talk anyway? A lot of these people will die for their cause anyway. Probably a waste of time and hurting your own sanity levels.

Would you politically oppress a people for a limited time if it increased the overall well-being of the citizenry?: ...no. This country is about freedom, for better or worse.

You are a physician with five dying patients and one healthy person in the waiting room. Would you harvest the organs of the one to save the five?: No. A wrong doesn't make a right.

 

[Lexicon]

I’ve already said in the past that I’d remove body parts/feed them to my cat if we were both starving.
I dunno if I’d make the same sacrifice for a person, though.

 

[Maou]

No for all of them.

Because these situations are highly subjective, but also prone to repetition in history. You could harm yourself, or others for the greater good all you want. But your progress is just as easily changed by someone else of equal or greater conviction. You only have one life, but society carries on regardless of good and evil of your choices. It isn't worth the sacrifice. The only one I could say yes to, was removing my leg to save someone I deeply cared about. But even then, I don't think I'd be able to do it due to pain.

 

[Schrödinger's Name]

I think it's physically impossible to cut your own leg off if you yourself are not in a life-threatening situation. Also, think about all the veins that run through your leg, you'll most likely die if you don't get any medical care soon.

A friend once asked me if I'd eat her puke to save her life. I think that's a more realistic question.

 

[Mind Maverick]

If it was on the lower leg you wouldn't die. You have a main artery in the thigh though, so up there you likely would.

Personally, I know the pain wouldn't be impossible for me to bear. I feel like I've already lived through worse than losing a leg so I'd be fine.

 

[Tellenbach]

Only if I had a light saber and cybernetic implants were available.

 

[Mind Maverick]

I thought about it more.

There would be 2 people I know for a fact I'd be able to cut off my leg for in a heartbeat. I don't have close family and they are basically my substitute family.

There are others I'd be willing to do it for, but the thing is...cutting off your own leg is obviously excruciating and difficult, and I'd need a lot of passion to be able to get through that pain. I'm not so sure I'd be able to do it for people I'd be willing to do it for just because I don't know if I'd actually be able to successfully get through that pain for someone I don't love passionately that way. This group would include some friends I care about that I know are good people. I mean...if you weigh it out...a leg VS a life...what's more valuable?

I wouldn't do it for just anyone because there are too many assholes in this world and I've sacrificed for too many people like that already. If I don't know whether you're some douchebag I'm not doing it.

 

[Madboot]

It would really depend on who.