• baker
    5.6k
    The whole point of inventing stories that illustrate moral dilemmas is to use them as a cue for analyzing problems of morality, or to get a person to explicate their own moral reasoning (in the way they justify a particular course of action).

    Two useful references:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_dilemma
    https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-dilemmas/
  • javi2541997
    5.8k


    Exactly! This is what I was wanting when I posted this dilemma and I guess I reached what I was looking for. There were a lot of different arguments and opinion regarding the moralism inside this dilemma. I think sometimes it is interesting debate about this issues.


    I just checked the Stanford one. It was so helpful to develop a better criteria in social dilemma. Now, I have the principles to build a better one.
  • baker
    5.6k
    I just checked the Stanford one.javi2541997
    Wiki has actually been a pretty good source for quite some time now, no need to eschew it anymore (as there was in the olden days).
  • javi2541997
    5.8k


    Yes I know I going to check Wikipedia too but somehow I guess Stanford is a good university and I suppose all the content is so good in terms of quality.
  • baker
    5.6k
    Virtue ethics, then. It's about growing, becoming better.Banno
    Let's not sound like a cheap self-help book ...
  • SteveMinjares
    89
    There are two scenarios here.

    Survival of the body or to do to stay physically alive.

    Survival of the mind, your conscious is a threat to your mental health. Which can lead to corrupting your logical state. Leading to self mutilation like suicidal tendencies.

    Which take precedence, body or mind? What is the solution to preserve both?
  • James Riley
    2.9k
    What should you do?javi2541997

    Well, the fat man is my loved one, I'm a bad ass with a gun and his life means more to me than my own or anyone else in the cave. We all die. In all other cases, we wait until just shy of too late, blow his ass up and we all get out.
  • javi2541997
    5.8k
    I'm a bad ass with a gun and his life means more to me than my own or anyone else in the cave. We all dieJames Riley

    :rofl: you are a wacky head with a gun that doesn’t care about the life but probably the others do and then steal your gun, kill you and the fat man, then they run away. How the tables have turned!
  • James Riley
    2.9k
    you are a wacky head with a gun that doesn’t care about the life but probably the others do and then steal your gun, kill you and the fat man, then they run away. How the tables have turned!javi2541997

    I think that is actually my scenario. Morally. So the tables have not turned. They are doing what I would expect, morally.

    The only thing that seems incongruous is your use of the words "the life". That sounds singular, in which case I'd think you were talking about the fat man, in which case they would not kill him if they cared and I didn't. Instead, I think you meant to say "their lives". Therefor: "you are a wacky head with a gun that doesn’t care about their lives but probably the others do and then steal your gun, kill you and the fat man, then they run away." That makes more sense. Correct me if I'm wrong, and please clarify.

    If by "the life" you meant me in my first scenario, then your hypothetical is still in accord with my moral position.
  • javi2541997
    5.8k
    That makes more sense. Correct me if I'm wrong, and please clarify.James Riley

    I was referring to your life (singular) because you previously said:
    his life means more to me than my ownJames Riley

    I was not referring to the fat man but you as the example. I guessed you don't care at all about your own life but others do in their own so they steal the weapon and kill you instead.
    Also, I even think they would kill the fat man because they were ready to blow him up anyways.
  • James Riley
    2.9k


    That makes more sense (singular meaning me in the first scenario, rather than the fat man in the second). But the actions of the group still comport with my morality: if the fat man means less to them than their own lives, they will kill him. Same with me. If he does not, they, like me, would not let the group or anyone in it stand in the way of blowing him up.

    Now, the scenario I expected someone to raise in response to my post but did not (so I'll do it on my own) would be, what if one or more of the group were as dear to me as the fat man? What would I do then? Well, I would do the same, though I suspect my job would be even easier. For anyone I cared so deeply about would likewise sacrifice themselves for the fat man. If they would not, then they would be to me as the rest of them: secondary to the fat man.
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