Tough ethical question

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Atahualpa
What if he in turn needed the extra money for a medicine for his ill wife that some other doctor is holding tight for a lot more money?

That's why hypothetical situations are silly

[Atahualpa]

Well, but important in ethic discussions, don't you think?

[Urban Ranger]

The thing is, you can keep adding to these hypothetical questions until you end with a Gordian Knot.

[Flip McWho]

And thats when you get a sword.

[mrmitchell]

The real world time period you're talking about is blindingly obvious.

Yes, use it. The suffering has already happened and to eliminate any good results out of it would be awful. Victim compensation, yes, sure. But at least those victims already passed were not for a lost cause.

The US would have been well delayed in reaching the moon without Nazi research, plenty of it done on slaves and concentration camp inmates. But you can just look at the future, and say, what can I do at this point in time to turn things for the rightest?

And Wernher von Braun was an *******.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by mrmitchell
And Wernher von Braun was an *******.

No more so than most other war weapons designers, I suppose.

[mrmitchell]

Most war weapons designers stay in their own country and try to only kill combatants.

Production of the V2 killed more slave laborers than Londoners.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by mrmitchell
Most war weapons designers stay in their own country and try to only kill combatants.

Something over which von Braun had no control. The U.S. snatched him up without a second thought and whisked him to the U.S. And the Nazis were the ones using the rockets to kill people. Might as well blame Northrup-Grumman scientists for civilians killed in Iraq.

"Ze rockets go up, who cares vhere zey come down? Zat's not my department" says Werner von Braun...

Production of the V2 killed more slave laborers than Londoners.

Again, something over which von Braun had no control. He and Dornberger tried to resist Himmler's attempts to take over V-2 production, so Himmler had him arrested for trying to "sabotage" the program. He was released, but the point was well-made by Himmler.

Von Braun plausibly had no direct knowledge of the extreme conditions that existed for the slave workers at the production sites. He rarely visited places like Mittelwerk, and when he did it was just for short periods--as far as he knew it was just prisoners being utilized for labor, which we even do here in the U.S. It wasn't until late 1944 that he learned about the atrocious treatment and casualties, and there still wasn't anything he could do about it, being as far removed from production as he was.

Note that I'm not excusing anything, but I don't think he quite qualifies as a monstrous Nazi slavedriver murderer. His chief interest lay in space exploration (Himmler used remarks he had made about using the V-2 for such purposes after the war as part of the SS reason for arresting him, oddly enough).

[Atahualpa]

Originally posted by mrmitchell
The real world time period you're talking about is blindingly obvious.

Well, yes...

Anyway I am surprised that nobody suggested to burn the work done by a force with evil intentions and reached with evil methods.
Is it entirely unimportant _how_ something was created?

Because then I might go out as scientist and use lots of unethetical methods, victimize myself in order to serve a greater purpose: the development of humanity.
In the end I can be sure that my work will be used and I have done right. I can choose a wrong path and still do the right thing. All the victims that died for it, will be shrugged off as collateral damage.

Interesting point of view, no?

[Az]

USE.

Duh. what's the dilemma?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Atahualpa


Why should it belong to the victims? Without your rescue they'd all be dead by now!
.

ergo you have the right to take anything they own, even things the Nazis didnt manage to steal. Er, no. Rescue may give you a right to gratitude, or compensation, but not total rights over the rescued.

In any case, in WW2, the allies made war on Germany principally for their own reasons, not to rescue holocaust victims. And they had abundant alternate sources of compensation for their efforts.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
"Ze rockets go up, who cares vhere zey come down? Zat's not my department" says Werner von Braun...

So he's an amoral *******, not an immoral *******?

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
ergo you have the right to take anything they own

Why do you think they should own it though?

[Vesayen]

Is this a joke? The experiments were evil and its damn good the purpetraitors are dead, but why let those peoples suffering come to nothing?

CURE AIDS AND CANCER!

USE!


Most of my familly died in the concentration camps.

[Atahualpa]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


ergo you have the right to take anything they own, even things the Nazis didnt manage to steal. Er, no. Rescue may give you a right to gratitude, or compensation, but not total rights over the rescued.

In any case, in WW2, the allies made war on Germany principally for their own reasons, not to rescue holocaust victims. And they had abundant alternate sources of compensation for their efforts.

No you confusing ownership! The result of the experiment was owned by the nazis (how they acquired it shall not matter _for now_).
Then they are all dead and were destroyed by the allied. Logically all their posessions now fall over to the allied (still you _do not care_ how it was acquired), because they are in control now and since in that example _you_ are the allied, YOU can decide on what to do with it. If you want to give it back, well then you can do so. If you want to keep it, well you can as well. NOW is the time to decide as you have the power because you are in charge.
I am just asking what is the most ethical thing to do.

And I am also asking if you would give the results of the work to the victims EVEN if they'd use it for evil purposes or burn it altogether (okay this case is useless since you could burn it for yourself then, it's just there to remind you that you are ignoring the victims requests).

Okay I should have included also the scenario if the victims would do good with it, if they'd be given it. It did not made so much sense when I first thought about it, but seeing how everyone responded it would have been interesting.