Some Quizzes – Part 1
by MW Cook
I was reading a neat article in Maclean’s about the changing moral culture of Canada. So I decided to throw a little poll at you, my readers, and see what our morality looks like. Here we go!
Scenario 1
You have just purchased a $900 suit and are proudly wearing it as you walk down the street. It’s the most perfect piece of clothing you’ve ever worn and you’ll probably nail that job interview you’re on your way to all because of it. Suddenly, you notice a small child playing in the middle of the street and a car bearing down on top of her. If you act now, you will be able to push her out of the way. But in doing so, you’ll almost certainly ruin your new suit.
Scenario 2
You’re walking down that same street and you see a different child playing and another car bearing down on her. But the car is going so fast that, while you’d certainly be able to save the child, you calculate that you’ll have a 50% of being wounded and a 50% of being seriously wounded. Seriously = losing a limb or getting paralyzed for life.
Scenario 3
You are the only wealthy man in a poor village. Five children from your village have been kidnapped by a group of people demanding $100,000 for their return. Your security forces assure you that there is no way of getting the children back without paying the ransom. But, they say, if the ransom is paid they are sure they can apprehend the kidnappers as well. But, through some strange twist of reasoning, the money will not be returned. You are the only person in the village with the means of paying the ransom, but you’d probably have to sell some of your favorite things to do so.
That’s enough for today! Answer the polls and discuss. Part 2 tomorrow.
This is second-hand unless you’re reading it at http://www.theilliteratescribe.com
Matt W Cook 
Interesting choice of words, "morally obligated". I'm not sure exactly what it means, and how it relates to being "under grace, not law". If it's a philosophical question, then the answer first depends on which philosophical system you're working from. (consequential? deontological? virtue?) personally I like the virtue ethics approach; coincidentally i think it also fits best with Paul's law/grace description of life as God's child. from this approach you are not "morally obligated" to save either child. But you're only right if the decision you make springs from virtue. in other words, right and wrong is more concerned with being than doing – it emphasizes character rather than duty. fun stuff. FWIW, Kant would see it differently but Aristotle would agree with me. :)
Interesting choice of words, "morally obligated". I'm not sure exactly what it means, and how it relates to being "under grace, not law". If it's a philosophical question, then the answer first depends on which philosophical system you're working from. (consequential? deontological? virtue?) personally I like the virtue ethics approach; coincidentally i think it also fits best with Paul's law/grace description of life as God's child. from this approach you are not "morally obligated" to save either child. But you're only right if the decision you make springs from virtue. in other words, right and wrong is more concerned with being than doing – it emphasizes character rather than duty. fun stuff. FWIW, Kant would see it differently but Aristotle would agree with me. :)