From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Sun Jul 27 2003 - 15:12:15 MDT
Barbara came up with quite a number of intriguing scenarios:
> However, this is not really a fair example. What about if you have a knife,
> and I know for a fact that you've threatened other people with the knife and
> stolen their corn? What if you've just traded in your knife for a machete?
> And I hear that you're on your way to rob me? Or my neighbor? Should I go
> over to your house and blow you away with my shotgun?
I used to hate people who would not submit simple YES or NO
answers to such questions. They'd always begin "It depends..."
It depends on a number of things: firstly, what do I gauge will be
this person's reaction to the fact that I have a shotgun and
am inclined to use it on him if he proceeds unjustly with his
machete? Let us suppose that this would sober him up, and moreover,
that he's not the type to sneak up on me and kill me later on. Then
moderation seems the best course.
It would be idiotic IMO to try to place probabilities on all
these possibilities or tendencies, so one should have to ponder it
and length, and perhaps talk to others to gain the advantage of their
thinking and experience before making a decision. Clearly, I ought
to go kill him if there is a very large chance he will ambush me
later. Moreover, since you bring up his past misdeeds, there looms
the large possibility that we should jail or execute this person.
> This is still not a fair example. How about this one: what if you have a .22
> caliber handgun, and I have reason to believe you intend to use it to take
> over the community well that supplies all the water for irrigation of crops?
> Should I go over to your house and blow you away, just in case? Should your
> philosophy make a difference?
Yes, your target's "philosophy" definitely should make a difference.
If you just go over there and show him your shotgun, and muster all
the true determination and decisiveness you actually possess, and
attempt to make it clear to him that he can't get his way by threatening
others with his gun, then you *may* be able to tell from his reaction
what to do. I definitely would not go alone however---not for the sake
of my personal safety, but for the sake of the impact of numbers, and
to make my decision to take away his gun, or even to kill him, a group
decision of all of the community that is involved.
> Should it make a difference if your reason for taking over the well
> is to redesign the irrigation system so that it functions more
> efficiently?
This definitely depends on how predisposed he is to talk things over.
If he has decided upon his plan of action because people are dying
and the council is stupid and stubborn, then perhaps both of you---
armed---can talk some sense into the council. But:
This perfectly well illustrates the paucity of information (necessary
of course, in most written accounts) in your story. In a real situation,
one's knowledge of all the circumstances would be so much greater.
> How about a less complex situation: Suppose there is a bus carrying 45
> innocent passengers. You have reason to believe that the bus driver intends
> to drive the bus through a crowd of pregnant women at a LaLeche League
> event. To allow the bus to continue on its present course may result in the
> deaths of 50 women, 53 fetuses, and 2 bus passengers; and at least 120
> potential lives will be lost (some of the women killed would have gotten
> pregnant and given birth again, after the births of the fetuses they are
> presently carrying, and several of the bus passengers are females of child
> bearing age). Do you blow up a freeway overpass as the bus approaches,
> causing the bus to crash and burn?
You then go on to shade this example with further important particulars.
In every case you ask "does it make a difference if...", and the answer
is always "yes". Our decisions would always be based, IMO, on all the
available data. Only in rare circumstances would I close my ears and
announce that I was simply going to adhere to some principle. On the
other hand, in no case would I merely ignore the precious principles
handed down to us by our ancestors.
Lee
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