Adolf Hitler and a gorilla are drowning in a river. You can only save 1. (user search)
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  Adolf Hitler and a gorilla are drowning in a river. You can only save 1. (search mode)
Pages: [1]
Poll
Question: Who do you save?
#1
Adolf Hitler
 
#2
The gorilla
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 89

Author Topic: Adolf Hitler and a gorilla are drowning in a river. You can only save 1.  (Read 6412 times)
Badger
badger
Atlas Legend
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Posts: 40,501
United States


« on: August 18, 2016, 01:19:52 AM »

On further consideration I'd probably save the gorilla.

Sorry, Antonio, but, while in almost any other hypothetical of this kind I'd agree with you, it's Hitler.

If you start making exceptions for Hitler, it's very easy to be tempted to make more. Past and present times are ripe with horrible people who did horrible things. Where do we draw the line, then? Surely, it can't be only Hitler, or someone should explain to the victims of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot why their tormentors weren't bad enough to deserve the same fate. And then, what about Franco, Suharto and the like? They killed a lot of people - not quite as many as those others, but is that really a relevant distinction? And why stop at tyrants? What about Tim McVeigh, Omar Mateen or the forever-unnamed people who bombed Piazza Fontana? What about Charles Manson? How many people does someone need to have killed to deserve being left to die? Isn't one enough? And hell, why stop at killers? Aren't some acts even worse than murder? What does Josef Fritzl deserve?

And yes, I realize it's a bit rich for me to make a slippery slope argument after I've rejected such arguments in other discussions (including with you). I just think this is the one right that can't tolerate any exception without eventually collapsing altogether. Also, as much as I like virtue ethics, I'm very suspicious of any moral reasoning that tends to divide humanity into "bad people" and "everybody else".

Yes, I'd save the gorilla over all of those (normal)

I'm not sure I'd save either, because the gorilla would probably kill me if I tried to save it.(controversial, I know)

Most sane answer in the entire thread.
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