Tweet
Today I saw the movie: SAW which honestly is quite a dull piece except in some parts. Overall I was dissapointed by the lack of depth and the end... well.
Anyway, the movie poses 2 slightly different ethical questions. Let's start with the situations.
Situation A:
You are locked in a room. You have a device on your head that will kill you in 15 minutes. The device is locked and the key is in the stomach of a man, alive and awake, who is lying on the floor, but who cannot move because of some strong tranquilizers (whose effects will not diminish over the next 15 minutes). You have a knife. A video presents you what will happen if you don't open the lock with the key in 15 minutes (your mouth will be torn apart and your head explode).
Modification of A: You will need to obtain 2 (or more) keys and kill 2 (or more) tranqulized persons on the floor. Do you do it?
Situation B:
You are again locked into a room and your foot is chained to the wall. This time you have a gun with a single shot and a poisened cigarette. The objective is to kill the other person in the room (that you don't know), who is chained to the wall with the feet as well, before some time is over. You can either shoot him or trick him into smoking the cigarette. Otherwise the guy observing the room through a video camera is going to kill your (wife|husband) and your child. You have spoken to them through a phone (that can only receive calls). You cannot destroy the camera.
Modification of B: You need to kill 2 or more people to save your loved ones.
So in both situations what is ethical to do? Is it okay to kill someone (or more) to save yourself? Is it okay to kill someone (or more) to save others (that you love)?
As for me, I probably could not kill someone (innocent) to save myself and I could probably not kill someone (innocent) to save someone else. Above all I would have too much doubt that the told outcome is really going to happen or that the promise to not kill my loved ones is really to be held. Effectively, my doubts would paralyze me.
What would be the ethical thing to do? What would you do?
Anyway, the movie poses 2 slightly different ethical questions. Let's start with the situations.
Situation A:
You are locked in a room. You have a device on your head that will kill you in 15 minutes. The device is locked and the key is in the stomach of a man, alive and awake, who is lying on the floor, but who cannot move because of some strong tranquilizers (whose effects will not diminish over the next 15 minutes). You have a knife. A video presents you what will happen if you don't open the lock with the key in 15 minutes (your mouth will be torn apart and your head explode).
Modification of A: You will need to obtain 2 (or more) keys and kill 2 (or more) tranqulized persons on the floor. Do you do it?
Situation B:
You are again locked into a room and your foot is chained to the wall. This time you have a gun with a single shot and a poisened cigarette. The objective is to kill the other person in the room (that you don't know), who is chained to the wall with the feet as well, before some time is over. You can either shoot him or trick him into smoking the cigarette. Otherwise the guy observing the room through a video camera is going to kill your (wife|husband) and your child. You have spoken to them through a phone (that can only receive calls). You cannot destroy the camera.
Modification of B: You need to kill 2 or more people to save your loved ones.
So in both situations what is ethical to do? Is it okay to kill someone (or more) to save yourself? Is it okay to kill someone (or more) to save others (that you love)?
As for me, I probably could not kill someone (innocent) to save myself and I could probably not kill someone (innocent) to save someone else. Above all I would have too much doubt that the told outcome is really going to happen or that the promise to not kill my loved ones is really to be held. Effectively, my doubts would paralyze me.
What would be the ethical thing to do? What would you do?
One reason why the movie was crap.
Comment