I’m not sure if this is a poll or a GD, but here goes, anyway.
Is there a point at which people can be morally wrong for surviving? I’m thinking about ethical dilemmas with two rooms, one full of people, one with just you in it, and you deciding which room gets blown up. If it’s just you vs. some random person, is it morally neutral to save yourself? How about two people?
My take on this: Guilt sucks. However, it is mitigated by the fact that someone is there to feel the suckiness. Atheism, while an otherwise wonderful religious preference, is not helpful in the sacrifice-yourself-and-be-rewarded sense.
Do you suppose the reason this thread sank like a rock is that nobody wants to answer the question either way? Even as an atheist would you not take into consideration the possibility that you could be wrong and if so blowing yourself up is the best answer? However, I’m not an atheist and I don’t want to answer the question. :o [sup]It sucks. & you can’t make me give an answer.[/sup]
I just don’t like hypothetical questions that don’t seem rooted in reality. My life is the most valuable thing I own and as such I value it more then the life of a stranger or even some people I actually know. If I’m put in a situation where the choice is my life or the life of a stranger the odds are excellent that I will choose to live.
As a rule of thumb, other people are worth 1/10 what you are. So, up to 10 people in the other room, blow it up. if there are 10, then it’s equal. All else equal, may as well save yourself. If it’s more than 10, then you should kill yourself, as the other room is worth more than you.
Your hypothetical is difficult to answer, since you’re not responsible for the blowing up (or if you are, of course, you’re guilty at the first place). If a terrorist tells you I’m going to kill either you, either 10 other people, even if you choose to live, you’ve still zero responsability in the death of these other people, so IMO, no one could blame you.
As for the value I give to my life, IMO, it’s impossible to answer as long as you didn’ t have been actually in a situation where you have to decide whether or not you should sacrifice yourself on the behalf of others (or at least risk your life on their behalf), and fortunately, these situations are extremely rare in usual situations (it could be different during a war, etc…). So, there’s no way I would theorize about this.
Although it is perhaps impossible to answer this question for sure, intellectually I would hope that certainlly if it was two people I would give myself up, and most likely if it was one.
[sup]It sucks. & you can’t make me give an answer.[/sup]