Moral Dilemmas.....

[-Davo]

The Concentration Camp:

You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and wants you to pull the chair from underneath him. He says that if you don’t he will not only kill your son but some other innocent inmate as well. You don’t have any doubt that he means what he says. What should you do?





The Pregnant Woman:

A pregnant woman leading a group of people out of a cave on a coast is stuck in the mouth of that cave. In a short time high tide will be upon them, and unless she is unstuck, they will all be drowned except the woman, whose head is out of the cave. Fortunately, (or unfortunately,) someone has with him a stick of dynamite. There seems no way to get the pregnant woman loose without using the dynamite which will inevitably kill her; but if they do not use it everyone will drown. What should they do?


1) I would not pull the chair
2) explosions are cool

More here: http://listverse.com/miscellaneous/t...oral-dilemmas/

I just chose the two shortest ones, they're easier to read opcorn:

[fredjacksonsan]

Tough questions. Moving to Philosophy for much debate.

[03cavPA]

1) I wouldn't pull the chair, either. He's dead anyway, regardless of who pulls the chair. Other inmates will eventually die at the hands of the sadistic bastidges sooner or later, so another inmate's death will not be on your head.

2) What are the chances the explosion kills everyone in the cave? Or, the explosion collapses the mouth of the cave, and they can't get out. I guess they could all be dead either way. Yeah, that one's a cop-out.

[freakray]

So, after the high tide is past, the pregnant woman will still be alive, and will still be stuck too....

[MetalHeadZaid]

for all i know the camp could be raided tomorrow by SAS commandos and all of us set free, so i'll pull chair. although if you werent man enough to actually kill your son, we would understand.

and if that preggy woman isnt shoving that boom stick down her mouth to save everyone, i'll do it for her.

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by -Davo

The Concentration Camp:

You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and wants you to pull the chair from underneath him. He says that if you don’t he will not only kill your son but some other innocent inmate as well. You don’t have any doubt that he means what he says. What should you do?

Easy, look him in the eyes and say that you will not participate in any killing and put the moral burden back on him. Might not work out well in the end but it would be the moral thing to do.

Originally Posted by -Davo

The Pregnant Woman:

A pregnant woman leading a group of people out of a cave on a coast is stuck in the mouth of that cave. In a short time high tide will be upon them, and unless she is unstuck, they will all be drowned except the woman, whose head is out of the cave. Fortunately, (or unfortunately,) someone has with him a stick of dynamite. There seems no way to get the pregnant woman loose without using the dynamite which will inevitably kill her; but if they do not use it everyone will drown. What should they do?

Again, easy. Blow the bitch's ass out of the way. Sacrifice the one to save the many. The pregnant shit is a canard to play on your emotions.

[MetalHeadZaid]

Originally Posted by ericn1300

Easy, look him in the eyes and say that you will not participate in any killing and put the moral burden back on him. Might not work out well in the end but it would be the moral thing to do.

your point is valid, but what about the guy who's gonna get shot? the burden may be on the killer but his life is still essentially in your hands. could it not be considered moral to kill for life?

[GForce957]

The guy is most probably gonna die anyway if his life is being brought into it like that. I would refuse.

[03cavPA]

OK, I have to ask why the hell a pregnant woman is stuck in a cave, and why the hell is SHE the one leading that pack of retards?

Is she the smallest one there, and the one most likely to fit through the opening? If she is, then the rest of them don't have a snowball's chance of getting out anyway.

Why didn't they just take the stick of dynamite and blow the damn front off the cave to start with? Jeez, they let the preggo get wedged in the mouth of the cave like Winnie the freakin' Pooh. Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I'm gonna go stab myself in the face with a fork now.

[Knifeblade]

Originally Posted by 03cavPA

OK, I have to ask why the hell a pregnant woman is stuck in a cave, and why the hell is SHE the one leading that pack of retards?

Is she the smallest one there, and the one most likely to fit through the opening? If she is, then the rest of them don't have a snowball's chance of getting out anyway.

Why didn't they just take the stick of dynamite and blow the damn front off the cave to start with? Jeez, they let the preggo get wedged in the mouth of the cave like Winnie the freakin' Pooh. Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I'm gonna go stab myself in the face with a fork now.

^^^^^^^^Beat me to it, nuts. . I thought the same thing, but for purposes of the moral and philosophical content of the thread, I'd waste her to save the rest.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one, unless of course you are the one who got her that way, either pregnant or stuck, in which case you you deserve to die anyway to save the gene-pool from degrading further.

[liquidPunk]

I would not pull the chair. This is not because of the fear or moral implications of killing your son, but just the show of resitance for the other inmates. yes, in this instance your son will still die and someone else will also, however seeing the guards stood up to the rest of the inmates would have hope and possible overthrow the tyrants eventually.

as for the prego... that question is illogical in many ways to begin with, but if the essential choice is kill her or not, then kill her. your taking two lives to save the rest. although, really we have an overpopulation issue so i might just let us all die

[drunken monkey]

what a load of contrived rubbish.

real world moral dilemas:
is it right to take life to save life?
when can/should you lie?
euphanisia

what it mostly tends to boil down to is whether or not small evils can benefit the greater good.
you don't need to pad out a daft backstory like those to discuss these things and more often than not, those stories are flawed and full of holes anyway.
discuss the issue, not the story.
the story shouldn't be the determining factor.

[03cavPA]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

those stories are flawed and full of holes anyway.

That cave story won't be the only thing full of holes once they touch off that bang stick.

[Damien]

Why not pull her out or push or whatever. If something tears, they still have dynamite to use later, they can get out, and she'll heal or would have died either way.

[drunken monkey]

that's what happens when you leave a woman in charge