Your Moral Compass

[Hellstromm]

Originally Posted by Dirty Laundry

Go get better principles. Live by those and see if they fit better with an honest lifestyle.

Planning on adding anything productive to this discussion?

[Dirty Laundry]

Elmyr, You are in danger here sir!

IN DANGER!

You are in danger of making sense. That is the worst dangerous kind of man around.....we can't have that. Pretty soon people will start questioning things......questioning dangerous things. They'll question ethics of altruism which holds that man does not exist for his own sake. They'll start wondering whether living a life of sacrifice of God, State, or his neighbor, is the proper course of life. They might decide to live LIFE for the sake of their own happiness....

If enough people do that then they will get that freedom. We can't have that. We just can't! What would that do to society! ?

.....A whole lot of people free, living their lives according to their own values, that would be disastrous to the statists of every stripe.

[the black penny]

read previous reply.

good study point on morality..
but its a question,,of knowing wrong and doing.

hestromm pointed out that he knew that killing people is wrong,,but doing it in certain cases he would.

pretty good define line

[paulred2580]

Being honest with myself, I'd say nothing.
I've worked on a forecourts i know it takes a BIIIIG lapse in concentration to put and extra €40 worth of petrol into a car and not realize.
Adding to that the fact I'm a poor university student, i would still just pay the €10 and leave post haste.

Because it's against the rules to take petrol out of a tank on the grounds, forecourt workers are told to be careful when pumping petrol if he did it wrong, it's his own fault and he'll deal with it on his own time... or with his own money.

[Virginia]

In answer Betsy's original question:
I would tell the worker that I only asked for ten for a reason, and therefore will only be paying him ten. However, I would leave him a note with my name and number on it to give to his manager if she feels the need to debate it.

Originally Posted by Hellstromm

Here's a non-monetary moral dilemma for you:

You have a choice between saving the life of your one true love, or saving the lives of ten strangers. Who would you save?

Extend that.... and figure out just how many lives you are willing to sacrifice in order to save your one true love. Give it a number. Would you allow 20 people to die in exchange for the life of your true love? 100 people? 10,000? 100,000? One million? Ten million? Exactly how selfish are you?

Originally Posted by thealex90

Look at it this way, Ten lives to one, I love the girl, but thats ten people, and shes one, put just about anybody in that spot, even myself, and I'd chose to let the ten live.

You're responding to his question using mathematics, which shows a callousness on your part to the situation - certainly not intentionally, I'm sure, but how most people would respond who have not been in the situation themselves. When you say, "I love the girl, but hey," you're revealing a flippancy towards your love for her, which clearly shows that your not viewing this "girl" as your one true love.

Originally Posted by thealex90

Not fully true,how would you feel if you were one of those ten people, and you knew I had chose to keep my loved one alive, and let you and the other nine die.That's ten faimilys that will be greifing because a loved one died so I could make one faimily gratefull that I spared the girl, theres logic to both sides, keep the girl, keep the relationship, keep the strangers, spare more lives.

Again, you're looking at this from a distant perspective. We can talk about numbers all day, but until you truly love someone enough that it takes you more than more than a half hour to come up with an answer for Hell's question, you're talking out of naivety.

Now in answer to Hell's question, my answer would probably differ in varying situations. If I was allowed to choose the outcome in the situation I was in, where my love died covering his unit as they backed out, I would probably choose selfishly, and never let him go to that god-forsaken place in the very beginning. However, if it was ten of my children versus my true love, I would likely choose the ten - another selfish answer, I know.

Clearly my answers show a serious flaw in my moral compass, so to speak, but emotions often override any sense of justice. However, I know that the man I loved would never have it any other way, and even if I was able, I would not hinder him from choosing death so that others may live if that's what he desired.

[Gem]

I think you're being too harsh on Alex, he probably hasn't experienced "Love" yet

[Virginia]

Disclaimer: That certainly was not my intention, and I hope Alex knows me well enough to know I was not saying that to in any way put him down. I believe the subject is a rather sensitive one for several of us, and the emotion behind it should not be interpreted as harshness.

[the black penny]

ten people vs girlie
hmmm.i dont really need ta think about that one.
add a few more diggits maybe,


morals i haz em. pick a number and NEXT PLEASE!