Moral Issues http://www.moralissues.org A Glimpse At Morals Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:40:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 The Neighbor http://www.moralissues.org/the-neighbor/ http://www.moralissues.org/the-neighbor/#comments Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:40:30 +0000 Stephen http://www.moralissues.org/?p=25 You have a 8 year old daughter, who is happy, outgoing, and full of joy.  One day something terrible happens: your daughter gets raped.  You are quite positive that the rapist of your daughter is your neighbor.  Your daughter is unable to talk after the encounter, but she has convinced you through other ways that your neighbor is indeed the rapist.  Unfortunately, there is not enough evidence found to convict him.  Your family and you  move out of that neighborhood and try to reorganize your lives.  Your daughter still suffers from this experience years later in her life.  This event has effectively ruined her life.

It is your daughter’s thirteenth birthday, and your family goes out to dinner to celebrate.  While at dinner you see your former neighbor, who raped your daughter five years ago.  He is sitting alone and looks unhappy.  You do not say anything to alert the rest of your family to his presence as this will just bring up the horrible memories from the past.  The next day you discover that your former neighbor’s wife has been murdered; there is evidence to convict your former neighbor of his wife’s murder.  You know that your former neighbor did not commit this crime because at the time of the murder he was at the restaurant.  The police said that the murder was set up to look like a burglary.

You consider the possibilities… Did your former neighbor pay someone to kill his wife?  Do you go to the police and give him an alibi, even though he could be responsible for his wife’s death?  Or, do you do nothing and let him go to prison?  By doing so, you let the real murderer walk away.  What would you do in this moral situation?

]]> http://www.moralissues.org/the-neighbor/feed/ 1 A Father’s Choice http://www.moralissues.org/a-fathers-choice/ http://www.moralissues.org/a-fathers-choice/#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:34:33 +0000 Stephen http://www.moralissues.org/?p=23 Imagine that you are an inmate within a concentration camp; a sadistic guard generates a moral issue for you.  The guard caught your son trying to escape from the concentration camp, and he is going to hang him.  He wants you to pull the chair from underneath your son; the guard claims that if you do not pull the chair, he will kill some other innocent inmates additionally.  You do not doubt the word of the guard, regarding the death of the other inmates.  What do you do in this moral dilemma?  Does your choice change depending on who the other inmates are or how many of them will die?

]]> http://www.moralissues.org/a-fathers-choice/feed/ 2 The Runaway Trolley Car http://www.moralissues.org/the-runaway-trolley-car/ http://www.moralissues.org/the-runaway-trolley-car/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:16:10 +0000 Stephen http://www.moralissues.org/?p=21 A runaway trolley car is flying down the tracks.  In the path of the trolley car are five people; they will most definitely be killed if the trolley car continues on this path.  There is however a switch that can divert the trolley car onto another track.  On this track is only one person, who will be killed if the trolley takes this path.  Do you as a bystander flip the switch so that the trolley car only killed one person, or leave it on its original course to kill five people?  Does your choice change depending if you personally know the one person?  In this moral dilemma of the runaway trolley car, what supports your underlying decision of who lives and who dies?

]]> http://www.moralissues.org/the-runaway-trolley-car/feed/ 2 The Accident http://www.moralissues.org/the-accident/ http://www.moralissues.org/the-accident/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:30:12 +0000 Stephen http://www.moralissues.org/?p=18 You are an emergency worker and arrive at the scene of a serious car accident.  You quickly recognize the car as your wife’s.  As you make your way over to the car, you notice another man in the car with your wife.  Your wife sees you and mouth’s to you the words, “I’m sorry”.  You are baffled at this, but her look confirms the worst.  She is having an affair; the man in the car is her lover.

Your wife is seriously hurt and needs attention immediately.  Even if she is administered care, there is a high likelihood that she will still die.  The man in the seat next to her is only bleeding heavily from a neck wound.  The flow of blood must be stopped immediately if he is to live.  It will only take a few minutes to stop his bleeding, but this means that your wife will surely die. Who do you choose to administer care to in this moral dilemma?  Does it matter that the chances of survival for each patient is quite different?  Does this recent discovery of your wife’s affair affect your decision?

]]> http://www.moralissues.org/the-accident/feed/ 1 The Value of a Promise http://www.moralissues.org/the-value-of-a-promise/ http://www.moralissues.org/the-value-of-a-promise/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:00:54 +0000 Stephen http://www.moralissues.org/?p=14 In 1990, Jeffery Cain was killed due to a road rage shooting in Anchorage, Alaska.  George Kerr learned from his friends that they were the ones responsible for Cain’s death, and he proceeded to tell the police what he knew about the shooting.  Kerr said:

I usually would not rat out my friends, but this is just so severe I got to do it.

After George Kerr’s friends were convicted of this crime, they made a revenge plan and sent a bomb to his home intended to kill him.  Kerr was not home; the bomb killed his father.  If you were in George Kerr’s position, what would you have done?

Imagine that you are in the situation described:  A friend confides in you that they have committed a crime; you promise never to tell anyone.  You learn that an innocent person has been accused of the crime that your friend committed.  You ask your friend to give themselves up, but they refuse and remind you of the promise you accepted.  What do you do regarding this moral issue?  Does your decision change depending on the type of crime – murder, embezzlement, hit and run?  Where do you draw the line in this moral dilemma, with regards to when to reveal your friend and when you keep their promise?

]]> http://www.moralissues.org/the-value-of-a-promise/feed/ 3 The Fat Man And Impending Doom http://www.moralissues.org/the-fat-man-and-impending-doom/ http://www.moralissues.org/the-fat-man-and-impending-doom/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:51:03 +0000 Stephen http://www.moralissues.org/?p=11 A fat man is leading a group of people out of a cave on the coast; he gets stuck in the mouth of the cave.  High tide is approaching and unless the fat man is unstuck, everyone inside the cave will drown except for the fat man because his head is outside of the cave.  Unfortunately or fortunately, someone is carrying a stick of dynamite with them.  They have tried every way possible to get the fat man loose, and they come to the realization that the only way to get him loose is to use the stick of dynamite which will definitely kill him.  If they do not use this stick of dynamite, the entire group, except for the fat man, will drown in the cave.  What should they do in this dilemma?  This issue becomes more acute is a pregnant women is substituted for the fat man.  Does this change what should be done?

]]> http://www.moralissues.org/the-fat-man-and-impending-doom/feed/ 1 An Insensitive Observer http://www.moralissues.org/an-insensitive-observer/ http://www.moralissues.org/an-insensitive-observer/#comments Wed, 20 May 2009 16:27:07 +0000 Stephen http://www.moralissues.org/?p=8 A man is out for a Sunday walk along the beach.  During this walk, he passes a pier and notices a boy who appears to have fallen into the ocean.  The boy is unable to swim and is screaming for help.  The man on his walk, a capable swimmer, sees that the situation poses no danger to himself; he could easily save the boy if he tried.  However, the man ignores the boys cries for help and continues on his walk.  The man reasons that he does not want to get his nice clothing wet, nor does he want to catch a cold from the ocean water.  Does the man have a moral obligation to save this boy?  If so, should he also have a legal obligation, Good Sumaritan law?

]]> http://www.moralissues.org/an-insensitive-observer/feed/ 2 The Overcrowded Lifeboat http://www.moralissues.org/the-overcrowded-lifeboat/ http://www.moralissues.org/the-overcrowded-lifeboat/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 18:00:04 +0000 Stephen http://www.moralissues.org/?p=5 In 1842, a ship struck an iceberg; more than 30 survivors crowded into a lifeboat that was only intended to hold a maximum of 7 people.  A storm approached, and it soon became clear that the lifeboat would need less weight in it in order for anyone to survive.  The captain of the ship decided that some people would need to be forced overboard to drown.  He reasoned that these individuals would have drown, had he not forced them to do this anyways.  If the captain had done nothing in this situation, then he would be responsible for the deaths of the people that he could have saved.  Some people obviously disagreed with the captain’s decision.  They argued that if nothing was done that everyone would have died, and that no one would be responsible for these deaths.  The only way that the captain could attempt to save the lives of some was by killing others, deaths that he would be responsible for.  The captain proceeded to reject this reasoning.  In order to row back to shore, the captain knew that the strongest of the group would be required.  This led him to conclude that the weakest should be throw overboard and that drawing sticks to see who lived or died was an absurb idea.  After days of hard rowing, the survivors were rescued, and the captain was tried for his actions.  If you were on the jury for this trial, how would you have found the captain in this moral dilemma?

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