Can Murder Be Justified?Harvard Justice Course

Watch Video: First 5 mins

• http://youtu.be/kBdfcR-8hEY

• The initial question is “ Is it better to kill one person rather than 5.” Nearly everyone agrees

• But there is an implied question here: “Do I have the right to kill?” and a further question “If I am

forced to kill how do I choose”.

• In the simple case everyone would agree than 1 death is better than 5, but is life ever that

simple?

• What if the one person was your close relative and the 5 people you have never met before?

• There are many emotional points to make here, but the point about knowledge is “What criteria

do I use to make the VALUE JUDGEMENT about who to kill?”

• The question can be approached from the point of view of MORAL RELATIVISM i.e. Do I believe

that some peoples lives have more value than others

• It also might be looked at in terms of UTILITARIANISM i.e. How can I maximise the total sum of

good/happiness from a difficult situation.

• Another perspective is Moral Absolutism e.g. Kantian Ethics which would look at the basic right to

life of all people no matter who thy are.

• In the simple case, 1 dies or 5, UTILITARIANISM seems to give the common sense solution.

• The real world is complicated though and MORAL RELATIVISM and SELF INTEREST are likely to play a larger role.

• We are going to watch the rest of the video and I want you to pay attention to the WoK of REASON which is developed to a high level.

• A question for you:

• If you listen though the talk thought the filter of EMOTION do you have a different impression?