Would you give up your own life, if it could save the life of a dying child or stranger?
[This message was edited Wed Jan 15 4:12:00 PST 2003 by DigitalLisa]

If I did not have children of my own I would... ..because who would take care of mine if I died... ...But if I did not have children to take care of maybe not a stranger but a child for sure

Hmmm no, it wouldn't make sence ! A life for a life ?

I would risk my life, yes. give it up without a fight? no.

My child, yes.

No. Who's to say that the dying child or stranger has any more of a right to live than me?

LaVisHh said:

Bingo...and as for the stranger, as someone said I'd risk my life to save them, but to willingly die so that someone I've never met could live??...Prolly not...

No. Why should another random person be held in higher regard than the self?

No.

teller said:

In the case of my child, I feel that the only reason nature created me, was to create. It defeats my reason for life, if I chose me over my child.

LaVisHh said:

Your child, I can understand perfectly. YOU value the child. But a complete stranger cannot have a higher value than the self.

A stranger? Probably not.

A stranger that's a child? Probably not.

(If I did not know in advance that my own life was at risk, I would probably try to save theirs though.)

My child? Most definitely. No parent wants to bury their own child. Then again, if I had time I would make sure that my child would not be left without guardianship... I would not want to leave my child as an orphan without any means of survival.

teller said:

Agreed.

NuPwrSoul said:

Very good points, NuPwrSoul. About a week after my child was born, I drew up legal papers for what is to be done if I were to die.

teller said:

I think the scenario needs to be fleshed out to give it our perceptions a jolt...fo' instance:

Let's say you're in a room with another person, just the two of ya...you are single, unattached, no chillins, no bf/gf...the other person is a mother of three, with a 6 month old baby at home missing her...

In walks a man with a gun, points it at the woman's head then turns to you and says "I will kill one of you...and you get to choose...you pick her, I shoot her here and now and you get to walk out free and alive...you pick yourself, I let her go back to her life free and alive.."...

Question: would you consider this stranger's life to have more meaning or "value" than your own??..For her death to effect more people more directly than your own??...What if she was begging and pleading, talking of her kids, her newborn child who will never know it's mother??...Would that effect you??...Or would that make this "stranger" less of a stranger now in your eyes, thus harder to pick your own life over theirs??..

And what if the situation were reversed??...What if YOU were the married mother/father of three with a 6-month old at home??...If the gun were pointed at your head and the executioner were asking the other person, the stranger, whether you or them should die, would you mention these things about your life, begging them to allow you to live??..Would you hope the stranger would somehow place a higher value on your life??..

wellbeyond said:

The man with the gun is the agent of destruction, not I. I would refuse to choose, and he can shoot whomever.

Of course now you'll refine the question to take those variables out and it becomes the following: Is it ok to kill X people if it will save X+1 people? The answer is NO.

...luckily, we do not live a nightmare world where lives are constantly needing to be traded as currency.

teller said:

Darn tootin' I will!!...lol...(what good is askin' questions like this if, for all intents and purposes, your answer is "I refuse to imagine this scenario"??..)

So...you will HAVE to pick or choose...as well as you didn't address the sub-questions of if the "stranger's" life takes on more value by them having a family, or if you would want THEM to see your life as having more value if they were to choose and you were the "stranger"...

wellbeyond said:

Ok...in your bizarro world I'll opt not to die. Those kids will just have to grow up and make the same awful choice as well...in your bizarro world.

See...this shit isn't real.

My children: Yes, without hesitation.

A stranger: No, I wouldn't.

Edit: But then again it all depends on the situation. If I were in a building with other people that I didn't know and I was brutally beaten, I may let them off me to let a stranger go.

So, it all depends on the circumstance I guess...
[This message was edited Wed Jan 15 8:44:13 PST 2003 by AzureStar]

teller said:

The point isn't to have us envision realistic situations...the point is to put us in situations which cause us to "question" are currently-held beliefs...whether it's "realistic" or "bizarro" is irrelevant...

wellbeyond said:

What belief am I supposed to question?

lis where u getting these heavy questions?

my kids yes

stranger on the street

probably if i didnt know that it would kill me

teller said:

If a stranger's life never has anymore value than your own...if a stranger is only a stranger if you know absolutely nothing about them...if you'd want a stranger to give your life more value than you'd be willing to give his...

Stuff like that there...


..."no" shudda been "know"...
[This message was edited Wed Jan 15 8:48:43 PST 2003 by wellbeyond]

wellbeyond said:

Ah, ok. I value people because I've gotten to know them and find qualities about them that are worth valuing. Just being simply "alive" or "young" doesn't quite capture it for me.

I wouldn't hold it against a stranger if they chose their own life, either. It's a silly question, really it is--ethics are supposed to be about real life, not nightmare-land.

teller said:

You may not hold it against them...but would you want them to put a value on your life, on your living, if your life depended upon their decision...(you can put that within whatever realistic scenario you desire, cuz things like that do, unfortunately, happen...)...

wellbeyond said:

Would I WANT them to?! I guess inasmuch as I want to live, it would be nice if they placed a value on my life, but they have no reason to, and I have no such expectations, anymore than I have reason to do so for them.

In general, I "want" people to act rationally.

teller said:

So...if you'd WANT them (lol) to put a value on your life--a stranger's life--when it's you who's the "stranger"...and if you say you want people to act rationally...is it "rational" for any of us to find ourselves putting a value on a stranger's life--one that might even start to elevate it--when we know it's about to end??...And, if a stranger did indeed put a value on your life that allowed you to live while they themselves died, would you respond to that by saying "Well, that was nice of them to do"??..lol

wellbeyond said:

Pretty much...and I'd find their behavior darn strange...I certainly wouldn't hold it against them in any way at all if they chose their own life--that's the behavior I would display, and I expect and support similar behavior in others--I can't help if it's me who's going to die in this case--of course I'd want to live, but so what?