guarding against harm
Goals
To critically assess …
- How the scenarios relate to shelter, threat, reckless endangerment, and war crimes
- The merits of each of the four options or courses of action
- Which rules of duty and utility are most relevant to the scenario
- Which option is best suit to the identified rules of duty or utility
- A personal response to the scenario and ones own rules of action
Canine Clause
My wife suffered a long illness.
It took her and our home.
My world is now the pup and me,
the tattered soul intoned.
I found a low-rent vacancy,
but pets are not allowed.
My dog has never left my side,
I’ll not leave his, he vowed.
I could feign that I am blind,
that Barkley is my guide.
It might get us tossed out one day,
’til then we’d be inside.
When times improve and we are safe,
I’ll try to make amends.
Right now, I cannot see my way.
Is that really pretend?
Suppose the man must choose:
- sign the lease and sneak in his dog
- take the apartment and find a home for the dog
- pretend to be blind with a guide dog
- sell Barkley for rent money
What would Keri & Milo advise? What would you do?
Claude Bottom
Claude Bottom walks the old ravine,
a shortcut saving time.
Claude’s likes to be punctual,
or so he is inclined.
Claude hears the hiss of Tom tomcat,
caught in a broken fence.
To set him free won’t be easy
— those teeth appear immense.
Claude was clawed twice before,
felines gone mad with heat.
He bears a fear primordial,
that urges his retreat.
Ignore the cat and move with haste
or try to set it free.
No one should suffer needlessly.
Would that, thinks Claude, mean me?
Suppose Claude must choose:
- ignore the cat and get going or you’ll be late
- free the cat since it shouldn’t suffer needlessly
- free the cat since it has a right to receive help
- leave the cat, but ask somebody to rescue it
What would Keri & Milo advise? What would you do?
Willy’s Jeep
Raining for days, waterways swell,
the creek was first to flood.
Willy thought he’d speed across,
but soon was stuck in mud.
Stranded halfway, he stands knee deep,
atop the jeep’s drowned hood.
No way to shore if on his own,
that much is understood.
His cries attract a rescue crew,
but water’s running fast.
If they attempt to save his life
this day might be their last.
So wave them off and maybe hope
the flood begins to ease?
Or let the crew attempt rescue,
be heroes if they please?
Suppose Willy must choose:
- wave off the rescuers to not risk their lives
- keep quiet and hope for the best
- try to meet the crew halfway in the water
- warn the crew, but accept help if they insist
What would Keri & Milo advise? What would you do?
Buried Sources
The enemy performed experiments
on unwitting prisoners of war.
When peacetime prevail
the tests were assailed,
but met with more shock than horror.
No journal would publish the results
of those wartime medical tests.
But the secrets they held
undoubtedly excelled
in preventing cardiac arrests.
So a heart-conscious hospital team
said the data source must be quashed.
They hid the research,
so as not to besmirch
that saving life honours those lost.
What we do says what we are,
came the voice of a member dissenting.
Hiding the origin
raises terrible comparison
of what we and the enemy were intending.
Suppose a publisher must choose:
- publish, but conceal the origin of information
- publish and reveal the origin of information
- honour those who suffered by denying publication
- honour those who suffered by allowing publication
