Absolute Morals, Sins of Commission vs Omission etc.

[IronUnkind]

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Given the choice between 1 child dying a painful death or 5 dying painless deaths, surely the former is the better option?

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I am not certain I agree with this, but my response was not to be taken too seriously anyway. Your question, however, does get at the most provocative aspect of this scenario.

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I believe it would be ethical to kill 1 in every 34.3 kids and break even.

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Is this a personal maxim or a plot?

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P.S. All this talk about governments and passing the buck is way off topic. The fact that the system might not actually work is irrelevant.

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Glad someone else agrees.

[NotReady]

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If they press button three, the child will be spared but they will lose $15.


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I'm guilty. We all have this option every day. Though I couldn't manage $15 a day I could do more. Sometimes I hate myself.

[John Cole]

The right answer.

[andyfox]

I agree with Not Ready. (Who would have thunk it?) That John Cole also agrees makes me feel better about it. We could all do more but don't because we choose not to. It's easier because we don't actually see the children suffering.

The movie The Constant Gardener addresses this point quite well, I think.

[chezlaw]

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I agree with Not Ready. (Who would have thunk it?) That John Cole also agrees makes me feel better about it. We could all do more but don't because we choose not to. It's easier because we don't actually see the children suffering.

The movie The Constant Gardener addresses this point quite well, I think.

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I agree with that as well but its not because its better than the other two choice (which is implied by the question).

Its a good thing to do in its own right.

chez

[RJT]

So, the moral authority here is the “government of all wealthy countries”. We have free will: “participation is not mandatory.”

1) +$500 I assume kid dies painfully.
2) +100 and kid has no pain in dying.
3) -$15 and kid is spared.
4) Do nothing


How big is my bankroll? How many -$15 do I have?
What happens if I do nothing and all the alternates do nothing, too? How many alternates are in the pool of button pushers.
How many dying kids are on death row? If the kid is spared does Big Government go on to the next kid?

Under this scenario, is there an afterlife or is death finality?

[andyfox]

"How many dying kids are on death row? If the kid is spared does Big Government go on to the next kid?"

If you can use $15 to save one, isn't that a good thing? There are very few of us who do all we can. And we don't because we don't want to. It's easy because we don't see all the kids on death row.

[Zygote]

i'm assuming you only want people who adhere to moral codes to be involved in these posts, correct?