Morality

Paper Summary:

This study examines the morality of torturing a child to prevent someone else from nuking a major city. Specifically, the paper looks at the issue from the perspective of Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and this writer themselves. The paper claims that based on his categorical imperative, Kant would definitely not find the torture of a child permissible in this or any other situation; Mill could conceivably approve such torture, based on the principles of utilitarianism; and this writer would in no circumstances find such torture morally permissible, simply because it would be better to destroy the entire planet than to have its survival dependent on the torture of an innocent child.

From the Paper:

"Morality does not depend on mere survival, and the choice to torture a child so that millions would live would be a choice and a knowledge which would eat away at the survivors until the day of their death. If the only ones aware of the circumstances were the ones who made the choice (while the city and its people remained unaware), then those who made that choice would be morally bankrupted or at least morally haunted by their decision until their last moment of life."

More papers on Morality:

• Comparison Essay # 57633 : "Benefits of a Teleological Theory of Morality"
• Essay # 96969 : "Morality in Plato's "Republic"
• Case Study # 83754 : "Morality"
• Analytical Essay # 4432 : "The Secret Agent": Human Nature vs. Morality"

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