The captain of a boat is smuggling a family of refugees from Nazi Germany. A Ger
ID: 3461989 • Letter: T
Question
The captain of a boat is smuggling a family of refugees from Nazi Germany. A German naval boat comes alongside the captain’s boat and an officer asks if there are any refugees aboard. If the captain says “yes,” the Nazi officer may come aboard and shoot them. If the captain says “no” he will, in all likelihood, continue on his way and leave the captain and refugees alone. What will the captain do if he choses Utilitarianism and if he choses Deontology? what would you do in his place? Why? The captain of a boat is smuggling a family of refugees from Nazi Germany. A German naval boat comes alongside the captain’s boat and an officer asks if there are any refugees aboard. If the captain says “yes,” the Nazi officer may come aboard and shoot them. If the captain says “no” he will, in all likelihood, continue on his way and leave the captain and refugees alone. What will the captain do if he choses Utilitarianism and if he choses Deontology? what would you do in his place? Why?Explanation / Answer
If the captain chooses Utilitarianism, then he would lie and say a "no" to the Nazi officer, thus, and the officer would continue in his way and leave captain and refugees alone.
If the captain chooses Deontology, then his answer would be a "yes", then, the Nazi officer would come aboard and shoot them.
As Deontology emphasizes on moral sense than common sense, and demands that one should always give importance to duty and morality than consequences. Hence, one should always say truth no matter what the consequences are.
In this scenario, common sense tells that its necessary to tell a life to save the life of many. Thus, it would be appropriate to say a lie to save many lives. It would be an appropriate decision to stress on the consequences than merely following moral obligations. Hence, as the captain the best decision would be saying a "no" that is choosing Utilitarianism over Deontology to save lives of many.
Related Questions
drjack9650@gmail.com
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.