VivaHedone

Imagine that the human race will be wiped out unless a certain man dies. The man has done nothing wrong in this respect. However, he refuses to relinquish his life. Is it morally right to kill him?

Wiploc

My girlfriend wants to know what he's done wrong in other respects.
crc

anonymousj

Let us assume that this person is a woman whose life has been pretty much like mine-- the life of an average law-abiding citizen in the United States. It is morally wrong to kill her. Anyone who disagrees is mistaken. Anyone who thinks he/she can show otherwise is mistaken.
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anonymousj

Loren Pechtel

Yes. He would die anyway.

oriecat

What he's done wrong is to refuse to give himself over to the greater good. For someone to think that their one life is more important than ALL life, including their own, is inconceivably selfish and self-grandiose.

Strawberry

Putting it into a different perspective, if you could go back to 1915 or so and kill Adolf Hitler before he had a chance to kill/influence anyone, knowing that if you didn't he would 1) commit genocide that would wipe out 11 million people and 2) start a war that would kill 45 million more, would you do it? How about after taking a walk through the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C.? Or through Auschwitz or Dachau? After seeing the pictures?

I think killing the one person would be worth it to save the human race. On the other hand, humans are destroying the earth's environment for all the other species that inhabit it. Maybe the most moral thing would be to get rid of us so that the bioshpere could go about the business of getting back to normal. It's a tough ethical call. I think I'd kill the guy, though.

Defiant Heretic

I would say that both choices are somewhat immoral, however killing the one man would be the lesser of two evils.

Wiploc

How do you figure?
crc

viscousmemories

I always wonder what people mean when they refer to themselves as a "law-abiding citizen". Literally, "law-abiding" means that you obey the law at all times. Do you mean to suggest this?

You've never exceeded the speed limit? You've never come to a rolling stop at a stop sign? You've never littered? Never tried an illegal drug? A prescription drug that wasn't prescribed to you? You've never torn the tag off your mattress?

You've never ... well, you get the point.

Really? Never?

viscousmemories

No offense, oriecat, but I can conceive of such selfishness. In fact, I am just that selfish. The rest of the world can go to hell for all I care. I'll have the run of the place when you're all gone. I find the idea of dying scary, why should I choose to do it just to spare the lot of you? More specifically, what do I get out of it?