Philosophical Question VIII

Daily Meditation 1,014–12/14/2024

I like to very periodically pose these generally difficult and multifaceted philosophical questions, here, and look forward to reading your thought processes and answers in the replies.

You can ensure the security of every person on the world.
No more hunger.
No more illness.
No more war.
And so on.

Every person on Earth, in perpetuity, will have food, clean water, and be rid of war and sickness.

In exchange, you must kill one child.

That’s the entire question.

Here’s where I muddy the waters for your consideration with some differing scenarios.

1. It’s a totally random child. You push a button and somewhere, out there, the child drops dead and you’ll never know. No one else will ever know you did it.
2. It’s a totally random child, but you must give the order to a team of killers. Everyone knows you gave the order.
3. You personally must kill the child. The child is random, sure, but you must carry out the sentence.
4. You personally must do it, but you know the child.
5. You personally must do it, but you are related to them. Your own kid, a niece, etc.
6. In exchange for death, you can instead send 100 children to work in a lithium mine in Chile or Zimbabwe for 20 years.

Considering these various and different variations, how does it change your calculus?

For some of us, they can very “easily” make a decision on 1. For a few, it’s a simple choice in all 6. For others (most?), it’s a struggle to decide.

These philosophical exercises are useful in learning the self and teaching the self second order thinking. I fully endorse doing these in a group setting as you reason through.