Re: OT - Is torture moral?

TheAlligator wrote: 
Stuart Grey <stuart.grey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


It IS unrealistic and BS.

It is CONTRIVED, and it was designed to home in on one specific issue, the morality of torture to save lives. Real world examples have too many side issues that get people off track.

You seem to be one of the few people who realized that and could grasp the concept. 


Well, I would agree with you that it was contrived, because it's a
scenario.  I would disagree, howerver that it is BS.  It was a
well-contrived mental exercise that, at least for me, has caused me to
do some serious soul searching to figure out what I really believe.  I
still haven't decided, because it is an extremely difficult issue, and
probably not one most of us will ever encounter in real life - which
makes it even more distant and hard to figure out.  Some examples are
easy - if a guy raped and murdered my daughter and he was turned over
to me, I could make him suffer for weeks.  Is that moral?  NO,
absolutely not.  Would I do it?  Probably, and I'd experience some
temporary satisfaction and then spend the rest of my life steeped in
guilt.  Damn you, I'd prefer to not think about stuff like this <G>.

It gets interesting when you start thinking that just maybe the stuff you'd really do isn't moral.

The famous one is where two guys are trapped in a cave. There is only enough air for one person to survive by the time help arrives. If one of them doesn't die, neither of them will live. One fellow cops out, says to the other "you decide", hands the other a pistol, and take a sleeping pill.

Do you shoot the other guy? Do you shoot yourself? Or do you by your inaction, let both of you die?

You decide what you'd do, then you ask yourself why you'd do that. Sometimes, you might change your mind as to what you'd do.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: My Grandma
    ... I know peritonitis is a horrible thing and she is likely to die soon. ... lives with have been with her as much as possible. ... I'm struggling but I guess real life is like this. ...
    (uk.people.support.depression)
  • WHO REALLY CARES, WHO LIVES OR WHO DIES ?
    ... Do you care about yourself, ... Who really cares whether Mrs Aris lives or die? ... Assassination was not only in Myanmar, ...
    (soc.culture.burma)
  • Re: Circumcision
    ... I believe people have the right to risk their own lives. ... It may be better to live under robber barons than ... torment us for our own good will torment us without end, ... Should your parents die well ...
    (uk.philosophy.humanism)
  • Re: BBC-Womens health fuelling poverty
    ... >>> miserable solitary lives for the last 13 years of their life. ... A woman waits for 50 years for her miserable husband to die just ... ;-) Ian, you really should spend some time ...
    (soc.men)
  • Re: Nested dreams
    ... to die, but still waiting for it to happen. ... Not every man really lives. ... Maybe not a life I would like to have, ... day is the one who I didn't care much at the very beginning. ...
    (rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons)