Ask Homework Help/Study Tips Expert

For this assignment you need to read the five moral dilemmas below. For each dilemma, identify the action or choice that the utilitarian would make, and provide a brief explanation of why the utilitarian would find the action permissible.

Scenario 1: You are a prisoner in a camp along with seven of your friends. Your days are spent doing manual labor around the camp, and you are fed, albeit small portions, at least once a day. You are also given water, a blankets-so treatment isn't terrible. One day, you find that sadistic guard has lined up your friends outside of your cell.

He hands you a gun and gives you an ultimatum: either you shoot one of the seven he has lined up, or he will shoot all of them, but not you. The question is whether you should take the gun from the guard, and follow his command, shooting on of your friends.

Scenario 2: You are on a caving trip on the coast, and you are leaving the cave system when your guide, a pregnant woman, get stuck at the exit. High tide is coming, and if you don't get out of the cave system quickly, you will be caught and drown along with the other people on your trip. Someone you are with happens to have a stick of dynamite.

If you use the dynamite near the exit where the pregnant woman is stuck, she will die in the explosion, but the rest of you will escape the cave instead of drowning. The question is whether to use the dynamite.

Scenario 3: You are the father of a young girl. One day she is raped by your neighbor. There is an investigation, but not enough evidence can be presented to convict or arrest him. You move away from your house and try to restart your life with your family, but your daughter is clearly damaged from her traumatic experience at the hand of your neighbor.

Months later, you are out one night at a restaurant with your spouse when you see the neighbor who raped your daughter. You quickly leave after your meal. Days later you find out that the neighbors wife has been murdered, and the neighbor is the prime suspect.

At first you are happy that he will be convicted and sent to prison-after all he wasn't convicted for your daughter's rape. However, you notice that his wife was murdered at the same time you saw him days earlier in the restaurant. The question is whether you speak up and provide him a truthful alibi, or you say nothing, and see him go to jail, and his wife's killer free.

Scenario 4: You and your family go away to the beach for the weekend. You had a young child, as does your brother, and the two are best friends. Once you have arrived at your hotel, the girls ask if they can go out to the beach for a swim. Soon after, you hear screaming, Running down to the beach you discover they have waded out into the water too far, and are struggling to stay afloat being caught in a rip.

There is no one else at the beach, and don't have much time till they become too tired to swim. Your niece is having a particularly difficult time being the weaker swimmer. You quickly jump in and swim out to them, thinking you can grab one, return to shore, and then swim out for the other.

However, when you get to the two children, you realize you won't be able to work so quickly, and that one of the children will inevitably be at risk of drowning. You niece is weaker, but there is only a 50 percent chance your child will survive if you take your niece first. Which child do you help first?

Scenario 5: One morning you are on your way to work, and as usual you are running a bit late. You are in a rush, but you look down at your radio to adjust the dial, and not paying attention to the road you swerve slightly off road. You look up just in time to correct yourself, but not before you hit a large divot in the road and are spun around.

The car behind you tries to hit its brakes, but ends up smacking into your car, sending you flying into another car. You come to a stop only to realize that you have been the cause of an accident that has severely damaged multiple cars. What's worse though, is that you realize you also hit a pedestrian walking along the side of the road, and the individual looks dead.

As you are dealing with the shock a woman comes up to you sobbing and screaming. You ask her what's wrong and she points to the person you have hit and screams "I've killed that man!" The woman, who you discover is drunk, is under the belief that she has killed the pedestrian that you hit. The cops at this point have arrived and are walking over to the scene.

The woman is ready to confess to the cops approaching you that she has hit a person, even though you are aware, that even though she was drunk, it was your car that not only caused the wreck but impacted the pedestrian. Do you correct the woman, or let her confess to the cops?

Homework Help/Study Tips, Others

  • Category:- Homework Help/Study Tips
  • Reference No.:- M92263353
  • Price:- $30

Priced at Now at $30, Verified Solution

Have any Question?


Related Questions in Homework Help/Study Tips

Review the website airmail service from the smithsonian

Review the website Airmail Service from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum that is dedicated to the history of the U.S. Air Mail Service. Go to the Airmail in America link and explore the additional tabs along the le ...

Read the article frank whittle and the race for the jet

Read the article Frank Whittle and the Race for the Jet from "Historynet" describing the historical influences of Sir Frank Whittle and his early work contributions to jet engine technologies. Prepare a presentation high ...

Overviewnow that we have had an introduction to the context

Overview Now that we have had an introduction to the context of Jesus' life and an overview of the Biblical gospels, we are now ready to take a look at the earliest gospel written about Jesus - the Gospel of Mark. In thi ...

Fitness projectstudents will design and implement a six

Fitness Project Students will design and implement a six week long fitness program for a family member, friend or co-worker. The fitness program will be based on concepts discussed in class. Students will provide justifi ...

Read grand canyon collision - the greatest commercial air

Read Grand Canyon Collision - The greatest commercial air tragedy of its day! from doney, which details the circumstances surrounding one of the most prolific aircraft accidents of all time-the June 1956 mid-air collisio ...

Qestion anti-trustprior to completing the assignment

Question: Anti-Trust Prior to completing the assignment, review Chapter 4 of your course text. You are a manager with 5 years of experience and need to write a report for senior management on how your firm can avoid the ...

Question how has the patient and affordable care act of

Question: How has the Patient and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (the "Health Care Reform Act") reshaped financial arrangements between hospitals, physicians, and other providers with Medicare making a single payment for al ...

Plate tectonicsthe learning objectives for chapter 2 and

Plate Tectonics The Learning Objectives for Chapter 2 and this web quest is to learn about and become familiar with: Plate Boundary Types Plate Boundary Interactions Plate Tectonic Map of the World Past Plate Movement an ...

Question critical case for billing amp codingcomplete the

Question: Critical Case for Billing & Coding Complete the Critical Case for Billing & Coding simulation within the LearnScape platform. You will need to create a single Microsoft Word file and save it to your computer. A ...

Review the cba provided in the resources section between

Review the CBA provided in the resources section between the Trustees of Columbia University and Local 2110 International Union of Technical, Office, and Professional Workers. Describe how this is similar to a "contract" ...

  • 4,153,160 Questions Asked
  • 13,132 Experts
  • 2,558,936 Questions Answered

Ask Experts for help!!

Looking for Assignment Help?

Start excelling in your Courses, Get help with Assignment

Write us your full requirement for evaluation and you will receive response within 20 minutes turnaround time.

Ask Now Help with Problems, Get a Best Answer

Why might a bank avoid the use of interest rate swaps even

Why might a bank avoid the use of interest rate swaps, even when the institution is exposed to significant interest rate

Describe the difference between zero coupon bonds and

Describe the difference between zero coupon bonds and coupon bonds. Under what conditions will a coupon bond sell at a p

Compute the present value of an annuity of 880 per year

Compute the present value of an annuity of $ 880 per year for 16 years, given a discount rate of 6 percent per annum. As

Compute the present value of an 1150 payment made in ten

Compute the present value of an $1,150 payment made in ten years when the discount rate is 12 percent. (Do not round int

Compute the present value of an annuity of 699 per year

Compute the present value of an annuity of $ 699 per year for 19 years, given a discount rate of 6 percent per annum. As