Question

Two large ferries are leaving Gotham: one full of criminals, the other occupied by innocent citizens. Imagine that you are on the boat full of innocent citizens. The two boats suddenly lose all power, and it becomes clear that both are wired with deadly explosives. Detonators are discovered on each ferry, and they will set off the explosives on the other ship. The Joker's voice comes over the loudspeaker of the ferries, and he announces that he is performing a “social experiment”. One ferry’s passengers must press its detonator’s button and destroy the other boat by midnight, or else the Joker will explode both boats.

What should you do as a passenger on the boat full of innocent citizens? If one were to push the button and blow up the prisoners, what might that say about their character? Is pushing the button the morally right thing to do in this case?

Answer 1

In my view, pushing the button would be a morally permissible action, given these circumstances. From a utilitarian point of view, this would save more lives, as if one of the boats does not press the button, passengers on both the boats would die. Therefore, even though pressing the button would essentially amount to murder of innocent lives, it would still save the lives of other innocent individuals as well. In my view, this is a better moral decision than allowing all of them to die.