Two New Thought Experiments for the Ethics Classroom

1. The Callous Terrorist: a dangerous terrorist is on the loose. He tried to bomb your government’s headquarters. Fortunately he failed. However, he has announced that he would try again until he succeeded. Now the police have got a lead on his whereabouts. It appears that he is hiding amongst the crowd in a busy marketplace. The police come to the conclusion that their best chance of taking out the terrorist is to machine-gun the crowd. It is either that or risk letting the terrorist escape. They decide to shoot, killing everyone in the process, including the terrorist. When questioned after the shooting, police say they had had no intention of killing all those people, but that unfortunately the terrorist had left them no choice, so that all responsibility for the incident lies solely with the terrorist who callously chose to hide amongst the crowd. 

Questions for discussion:

Who is responsible for the deaths of the people shot by the police?

Was it morally acceptable for the police to shoot into the crowd?

Is there a morally relevant difference between the way the police have acted in this scenario and the way Israel is acting in Gaza? If yes, what is it?

2. The School Burning: after I took away your house and your livelihood, you are determined to take back what is yours, so you threaten me and make several unsuccessful attempts on my life. When I finally decide to eliminate the threat and get rid of you for good, you hide in a school, which you are hoping I won’t dare attack. However, it turns out that in this you are mistaken. I burn down the school. You narrowly escape with your life, but all the children in the school die. I say that this wasn’t my fault and that you alone are to blame for this. I was, after all, only defending myself, and you should have known that I would do whatever it takes to stop you.

Questions for discussion:

Who is responsible for the deaths of the children in the school?

Was it morally acceptable for me to burn down the school?

Is there a morally relevant difference between the way I have acted in this scenario and the way Israel is acting in Gaza? If yes, what is it?