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Is it okay to let people die?

 
 
Lynne0
 
Reply Thu 1 Jul, 2010 12:22 pm
There is a boy drowning in a puddle, if you dont stop to save him it is considered wrong or "despicable" however, if you are walking down the same street and instead of a boy drowning there is a sign for a charity asking for money (Maybe Oxfam for example) chances that you stop are very slim. And that is okay, or not "despicable". However, in both cases you are letting someone die. why is it okay that we let people die in the second case? --not why do we do it, why is it okay that we do.
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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 1,922 • Replies: 13
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PUNKEY
 
  1  
Reply Thu 1 Jul, 2010 02:53 pm
I don't see the similarity at all.

Are you saying that a child drowning and people asking for charity are both "life threatening' to them?
0 Replies
 
fresco
 
  1  
Reply Thu 1 Jul, 2010 03:17 pm
@Lynne0,
I agree that the two situations cannot be compared, either morally or psychologically. Let those who really wish to address the problems of poor nations give up their 26-fold per capita usage of the earth's resources compared with that of the poorest nations.
0 Replies
 
laughoutlood
 
  1  
Reply Thu 1 Jul, 2010 09:19 pm
@Lynne0,
Quote:
There is a boy drowning in a puddle,


I'd kick the hapless waif until the irritating spluttering ceased.

http://www.freerice.com

0 Replies
 
Fido
 
  1  
Reply Fri 2 Jul, 2010 05:23 am
@Lynne0,
There is no hypothetical morality just as there are no imaginary cases of law... People decide what is moral everytime they make a moral choice, and almost anything can be framed as a moral choice... An example of morality can be seen in the behavior of the Jews in Palastine... Both the Jews and the Muslims are very moral people... It is only in the context of a human family as the ideal that their actions seem repulsive...

Ethics as the word ethnic reveals, has a lot to do with ones relationship with ones own... I saved a man from drowning once, and the guy was not white, so it was because I conceived of both he and I as human that I did what I did... And, I was asked to, as much as anyone could, under the circumstances... The man who was with him gave up trying to save him in order to save his own life, and pleaded for us to help... The black man who went in with me to do so turned to me and screamed: That N word is drowning!... Oh ****... Time for me to die... Which I nearly did...
The point is that ethics is about character, and custom... And the character I was raised to have and the custom of our household was to respect other races, and to recognize their equality which for me made not doing something when every effort was required- immoral... Not only do I try to be a moral person, but in the area of philosophy, morality is my concern... But that does not require much of anyone, though it often forbids much behavior... It is possible to judge a person moral if they never lift a finger so long as they harm no one...
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PUNKEY
 
  1  
Reply Fri 2 Jul, 2010 06:02 am
You said;

It is possible to judge a person moral if they never lift a finger so long as they harm no one...

So, you don't believe in "sin by ommision"?

You could have just sat back and let that person drown . . .

I invite you to study the Buddhist 8 Fold Path. Kind of a checklist of one's behavior. . . .
Fido
 
  1  
Reply Fri 2 Jul, 2010 02:12 pm
@PUNKEY,
PUNKEY wrote:

You said;

It is possible to judge a person moral if they never lift a finger so long as they harm no one...

So, you don't believe in "sin by ommision"?

You could have just sat back and let that person drown . . .

I invite you to study the Buddhist 8 Fold Path. Kind of a checklist of one's behavior. . . .



I believe in sin and riligion as social forms, but no, I do not believe in sins of omission..... I like some aspects of budhism ans a social form as I like some parts of Islam and Christianity... It is the good which helps us to accept the bad, but I do not accept the bad... It is time for humanity to move on from its mental childhood..
0 Replies
 
S6
 
  0  
Reply Thu 2 Dec, 2010 05:16 am
who cares if one single boy dies , millions die every day , just sit back and do own work , don't butt in others problems and create problems for yourself .
0 Replies
 
S6
 
  0  
Reply Thu 2 Dec, 2010 05:21 am
who care if a boy dies millions die every day ,just sit back and do your own work properly thats what every one wants u to do . Never Butt In These Sticky Situations These will create few more problems to worry your head out.
0 Replies
 
HexHammer
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Dec, 2010 02:49 pm
@Lynne0,
I find it a poor scenario of comparison.

The boy is in imminent danger, and my action will have a direct cause in the boy's survival.

The charity often goes to socially challenged people and other non life threatening cases.

0 Replies
 
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Dec, 2010 02:51 pm
Is it okay to let people die?

Yes . . . yes it is.
0 Replies
 
Fil Albuquerque
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Dec, 2010 03:01 pm
Can we not let them die ? Geee...I had the impression they die anyway, sooner or later...

Now a different matter would be given we have the power to postpone somebody's death should we do it ?
It depends on the context in which such situation arises...if to prevent further death, or the suffering of many others, why not ?
...every time nature needs to regulate the system when imbalanced it does n´t show much concern with death...
...to make it simple, we should let die as many as necessary...now the problem consists in knowing where and when its necessity evident...
0 Replies
 
Pemerson
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Dec, 2010 04:31 pm
@Lynne0,
I can't seem to get past the fact that you think someone could drown in
a puddle

Of course, I would assist anybody who is about to die in some situation right in front of me. Twice I've saved dogs. The first I stopped to see if a little dog was badly hurt when a car in front of us hit him. A lady came running from her house and said? "Why did you do that?" We ended up taking her and the dog to a vet, couldn't convince her we didn't hit the dog.

Second, my dog chased this lady's cat. We went to see if the cat was hurt and, yeah, her paws were bleeding. So, we took this lady and her cat to a vet to see what was wrong with her paws. Seems that the cat was declawed and wore its little paws out on the tree's trunk. Maybe she forgot about the declawing?

What else can you do? Guess I would always stop to help anybody who's in trouble. Well, maybe not everybody.....so....
HexHammer
 
  1  
Reply Thu 2 Dec, 2010 05:45 pm
@Pemerson,
Pemerson wrote:

I can't seem to get past the fact that you think someone could drown in
a puddle
Incapacitated people facing down, can drown in a puddle.
0 Replies
 
 

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