Post by Asherian Command on Feb 18, 2014 21:31:44 GMT
Alright. So I am currently figuring out an ethical problem.
So I was given a question on Virtues, Rules, EThics, Etc..
Virtues those things people hold up high above themselves and believe humans can be better and can change over time.
It is a question and a dilemma. I have already answered it myself. But i was interested in others feedback upon it.
So the ethical question/story I would like to ask is the following....
You are a Mayor of a town of 1000 people in Greece. You have been very happy to stay out of certain affairs of the World War for quite a long time. You can choose any type of moral thing you wish to do.
Utilitarian- Greatest net gain of happiness. (does not care about the motive)
Kantian - Ethics is everything, You will not kill, You will not break a promise, You will not lie.
But in the middle of night you hear rustling next to you.
You open your eyes in the morning and there is a man pointing a gun at your face. He is a German Officer, and he tells you to gather everyone in the town.
Everyone gathers in the town, and you notice that the german army has completely surrounded your towns people.
There are then three people dragged in front of you.
The officer tells you that these men were spies working against the germans. So he picks up a rifle and tells you the following: If you do not kill these men yourself, I will you and everyone that lives in this town, and the prisoners. But if you kill these men, I will spare all the towns folk.
You must be the one to kill them. You cock the gun and all you hear is nothing. The gun has no bullets in it. The officer then says to you to kill them with the blunt end of the weapon....
You walk up to the first prisoner, who looked like a kind man who was clearly greek like you and you are about to bash in their head in with the gun.
And the man says to you. "Liberty"
What do you do?
So I was given a question on Virtues, Rules, EThics, Etc..
Virtues those things people hold up high above themselves and believe humans can be better and can change over time.
It is a question and a dilemma. I have already answered it myself. But i was interested in others feedback upon it.
So the ethical question/story I would like to ask is the following....
You are a Mayor of a town of 1000 people in Greece. You have been very happy to stay out of certain affairs of the World War for quite a long time. You can choose any type of moral thing you wish to do.
Utilitarian- Greatest net gain of happiness. (does not care about the motive)
Kantian - Ethics is everything, You will not kill, You will not break a promise, You will not lie.
But in the middle of night you hear rustling next to you.
You open your eyes in the morning and there is a man pointing a gun at your face. He is a German Officer, and he tells you to gather everyone in the town.
Everyone gathers in the town, and you notice that the german army has completely surrounded your towns people.
There are then three people dragged in front of you.
The officer tells you that these men were spies working against the germans. So he picks up a rifle and tells you the following: If you do not kill these men yourself, I will you and everyone that lives in this town, and the prisoners. But if you kill these men, I will spare all the towns folk.
You must be the one to kill them. You cock the gun and all you hear is nothing. The gun has no bullets in it. The officer then says to you to kill them with the blunt end of the weapon....
You walk up to the first prisoner, who looked like a kind man who was clearly greek like you and you are about to bash in their head in with the gun.
And the man says to you. "Liberty"
What do you do?