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?
