By Maria Cortes
Staff Writer
Let me paint you a picture.
You are a surgeon at a hospital and a very beloved political leader has just been shot in the chest. The bullet has punctured the right ventricle of the heart and threatened the marginal artery. To make matters worse, secondary bronchial cartilage has fractured in his lung, causing further internal bleeding. He is now in desperate need of a heart and lung transplant. None of his relatives and trusted advisers are matches and his time is slowly running out.
There is a homeless man in the next room who only has a few days to live. He has no living relatives or close relationships, and just happens to be a perfect match.
Security is so busy surrounding their leader that they are neglecting everything and everyone else. You have less than 24 hours to save this man’s life and have a big decision to make. What do you do? Who do you save?
Do you let the beloved political leader die, and try and make the homeless man’s last days as comfortable as possible? Or, do you sacrifice the life of one man to save the life of another who has impacted the world so greatly that society would never be the same if we were to lose him?
To be completely blunt, whose life is more important?
This is where you figure out what kind of utilitarian you are. Utilitarianism means that conduct should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. This is one of the many confusing topics that I learn in my Political Theory class.
If you are an Act Utilitarian, you would be completely okay with disobeying this particular moral rule and violating the homeless man’s human rights. Ending his life would for the greater good, because the political leader’s life is much too important to lose. He has accomplished so much and has so much more in store, that it would be illogical to just let him die when there is a perfect solution right next to you.
If you were a Rule Utilitarian, you would kidnap the homeless man in his gurney and run away with him. A human life is precious no matter whose it is and should not be purposefully taken just to save another. It is inhumane. You can’t just decide that his life is worth nothing and almost literally give it to someone who would accomplish more with it.
So, what would you do? What kind of utilitarian are you? Better yet, what kind of person are you? The answer might surprise you.
