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Articles

Dilemmas

by Adam Carter

So, how are your moral mathematics skills? It’s a good talent to have in military combat or when embarking on the hypothetical rescue missions provided by ethical dilemma wizard Derek Parfit in his book Reasons and Persons. Calculators and consciences ready? When you and your friend combine to save 100 lives, you should personally get credit for saving fifty or (100/2) of the total number saved, correct? And further, you should always act so as to save as many lives as you can, agreed? Simple enough. This is called the ‘share-of-the-total’ view, in which each produces his share of the total benefit. But does this really work? Test yourself:

The First Rescue Mission

I know all of the following. A hundred miners are trapped in a shaft with flood-waters rising.

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