Distinction between ducking harm and sacrificing others

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Reference no: EM133875490

Assignment:

Upon reflection, is there really a moral difference

Boorse and Sorenson present the following three case-pairs to illustrate the distinction between ducking harm and sacrificing others:

Mall Gunman (a1)Angela, at the end of a movie ticket line, sees X about to shoot a .22 automatic at her. Angela knows that a .22 bullet will kill one person but not two. Angela leaps aside; the bullet kills Brenda, who is next in line. (a2) Same as (a1), but Angela grabs Brenda and moves her in front as a shield and the bullet kills Brenda.Speeding Truck(b1)Arthur, at the end of a line of stopped traffic, sees a runaway truck in his rearview mirror. Arthur changes lanes; the truck crashes into Brian's car, injuring him. (b2)Same as (b1), but Arthur beckons to a new driver, Brian, to join the line behind him; Brian does so and is injured by the truck.Terrorists(c1) Alison is one of 25 United States government officials on an airplane, each with a briefcase bearing an official seal. Terrorist hijackers announce they will kill one American per hour until their demands are met. Surreptitiously Alison covers her seal with a Libya Air sticker. The terrorists pass her briefcase and shoot Beatrice, the next American. (c2) Same as (c1), but Alison has no Libyan sticker. Instead, she switches briefcases with Babette, a French novelist, while she is in the bathroom. The terrorists shoot Babette. (p. 116)

The puzzle is to invoke a general moral principle (or set of such principles) that satisfactorily explains the putative difference between ducking harm and sacrificing others.

Reference no: EM133875490

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