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'''Lifeboat ethics''' is the moral dilemma created by imagining the following situation:
:You are the captain of a lifeboat that can only hold 15 people, but there are currently 20 in it. The boat will sink unless several people leave. How do you decide whom to throw off?
This lifeboat problem is often taught in [[public school]] in order to persuade students to accept [[utilitarianism]], or [[situational ethics]]. Increasingly the hypothetical scenario includes specific traits of lifeboat passengers, such as a physical handicap, and old age, or other perceived "defect" to be considered in your decision. Often the student is simply told that he must expel a certain number of passengers and he is to pick which passengers, with which characteristics, to throw off.
[[category:education]]
[[category:philosophy]]
:You are the captain of a lifeboat that can only hold 15 people, but there are currently 20 in it. The boat will sink unless several people leave. How do you decide whom to throw off?
This lifeboat problem is often taught in [[public school]] in order to persuade students to accept [[utilitarianism]], or [[situational ethics]]. Increasingly the hypothetical scenario includes specific traits of lifeboat passengers, such as a physical handicap, and old age, or other perceived "defect" to be considered in your decision. Often the student is simply told that he must expel a certain number of passengers and he is to pick which passengers, with which characteristics, to throw off.
[[category:education]]
[[category:philosophy]]