Heinz Dilemma
In a foreign country, a woman is near death from cancer. One drug
might save her, a form of radium that a pharmacist in the same town has
recently discovered. The pharmacist was charging $2000, ten times what
the drug cost him to make. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone
that he knew to borrow money, but he could only get about half of what
it costs. He told the pharmacist that his wife was dying and asked him
to sell it cheaper or let Heinz make up the difference later. But the pharmacist
said "No." Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store
to steal the drug.
Should Heinz have done that? Why or why not?
The Ship
A passenger ship sank in the middle of the Atlantic. There was a
great deal of panic on the ship as it became known that the ship was sinking.
People were rushing into the lifeboats. One of the lifeboats was very over
crowded. It became evident that the lifeboat would sink unless a number
of people on it would get off. One of the passengers suggested that they
take ropes and have people dragged behind the boat. However, it was winter
and a person would be paralyzed and possibly die if he/she stayed in the
water for more than ten minutes, People came up with many suggestions in
order to avoid making the decision who would live and who would die. But
nobody came up with a solution that would save all lives in the boat. After
some suggestions had been discussed, two opinions emerged. Some people
believed that they should leave themselves to chance. What will happen,
will happen. They felt that it was wrong to make a decision to kill people.
They might all die or they might all be saved. Another opinion was that
they should draw lots as to who should stay in the boat and who should
be thrown overboard.
Which of these two alternatives would you see as the more justified and why? Do you have any other suggestions? Do you think that it is justifiable to kill a few people in order to save many?
Plagiarism
There was one course in the university which was know to be very
difficult. It was an elective course in which the professor assigned five
papers during the semester. A senior took this course and wrote the first
four papers. When the time came to hand in the fifth paper, he had many
other things to do in order to graduate. One of his friends had taken the
course two years previously and still had his papers. He asked his friend
for one of the papers. He rewrote some parts of it and handed it in believing
that the professor would never remember a paper that had been written that
long ago, especially since so many students took the course. However, the
professor recognized the paper and the name of the student who had originally
written the paper.
What should the professor do? Suppose that the set punishment for
plagiarism is expulsion from the university. Should the professor consider
the fact that the student is a senior and about to graduate. Why or why
not?
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