"A situation arises where you can either save
your own child from death or contact the
emergency services in order to save the lives of
ten other children. You cannot do both, and there
is no way to save everyone. Which course of
action are you morally obliged to follow?"

This was question number fifteen. I talked to a lot of people about this one, and many of them had a great deal of trouble deciding which one to choose. Remember that it's "what are you morally obliged to do" and not "what would you do".

Pretty much everyone I talked to said they ultimately decided the right thing to do would be to save the ten other children. I understand this viewpoint completely --- like Spock said, "The needs of many outweigh the needs of the few." However, I chose the answer "Save your own child". I think this one is the morally required choice.

The concept of loyalty plays a strong part in my moral code. I think it's important to be loyal --- to your country, your family, your church, your friends, your Internet website community. You have a higher obligation to help a family member than someone you've never met before. If the situation described in the question were to have happened I would save the life of my own child --- and, more importantly (for the test's purposes, anyway), I would feel I did the right thing by doing so.

I would feel less justified, however, if saving the life of my child ended the lives of a hundred thousand other children. So I don't know what that says.

-Eric Sleator
Sun 3 Feb A.D. 2002