'''Lifeboat ethics''', or the lifeboat problem, 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, resulting in their deaths. How do you decide whom to throw off?
This lifeboat problem is often used as taught in [[public school]] in order to persuade students to accept [[utilitarianism]], or [[situational ethics]]. Increasingly the model for a number hypothetical scenario includes specific traits of interesting ethical lifeboat passengers, such as a physical handicap, and philosophical questions involving endangering old age, or sacrificing people for the other perceived "greater gooddefect"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.
Various forms == Fallacies of the lifeboat problem have been the theme of a number of books, movies, and television programs. The lifeboat situation is the starkest setting for this theme, but there are many others.Lifeboat Problem ==
While fictionalized scenarios There are often contrived several fallacies to the point of extreme improbability, various analogues show up, to varying degrees, in a number of real-life situations. In factlifeboat ethics, or the "[[Triage]]" lifeboat problem is an actual variant of this. Triage refers to These include the categorization of disaster victims into three categoriesfollowing hidden flaws: those who '''will not''' survive whether they are given assistance or not, those who '''will''' survive whether they are given assistance or not, and those for whom assistance will affect the outcome. The point of triage is to allocate scarce resources (doctors, medical facilities, blood) to those who will actually benefit. The ethical dilemma is that it sometimes requires decisions to let people die.
Other * the future is never known with the degree of certainty required by the problem. There is, for example, a real-life examples are decisions about selecting organ transplant recipientschance that the lifeboat will hold more, or allocation of very scarce that help will arrive, or that people will volunteer to leave the boat, or expensive drugs that other solutions will be found by ingenuity or medical treatmentsprayer.
As a philosophical or ethical exercise, * no one is likely to be in the lifeboat problem can involve discussions of life or death decisions based on situation described, any more than it is likely that a person[[UFO]] will land in 5 minutes and demand a parent to choose which child will be taken away by it.<ref>In the movie [[Sophie's "worth"—such traits as a physical handicapChoice]], old age, or other perceived "defect"a [[Nazi]] officer makes precisely this demand. </ref> In actual triage situations, such considerations are generally not considered, though they occasionally show up in things like organ transplant decisionsIt's silly to speculate on a scenario that will never happen.
The training * a shortage of medical personnel and emergency responders deals with these sorts lifeboat space is due to the negligence of questionssomeone: the captain, even though the lifeboat problem itself shipowner, or someone else. There is mostly a philosophical exerciseno shortage of lifeboat materials and supplies in the world that require this scenario to occur.
== Faith-based approaches ==* it is unlikely that too few people would volunteer to leave the boat. When the [[Titanic]] sunk, men volunteered to give lifeboat space to women and children, for example, and there was no ethical dilemma.
There are those who believe that religious faith, guided by prayer, can solve instances of this problem. They cite the following factors: * The future is never known with the degree of certainty required by the problem. There is, for example, a real chance that the lifeboat will hold more, or that help will arrive, or that people will volunteer to leave the boat, or that other solutions will be found by ingenuity or prayer. * No one is likely to be in the situation described, any more than it is likely that a [[UFO]] will land in 5 minutes and create such a dilemma. <!-- I've taken out the "Sophie's Choice" reference. Dilemmas artificially caused by criminal acts are a completely different issue. --> It's silly to speculate on a scenario that will never happen. * A shortage of lifeboat space is due to the negligence of someone: the captain, the shipowner, or someone else. There is no shortage of lifeboat materials and supplies in the world that require this scenario to occur. * It is unlikely that too few people would volunteer to leave the boat. When the [[Titanic]] sunk, men volunteered to give lifeboat space to women and children, for example, and there was no ethical dilemma. Faith-based approaches also cite the following == Biblical considerations:Solution ==
There is a passage in the [[Gospels]] that suggests that a lack of [[faith]] is the cause of the dilemma, and greater [[faith]] is the solution:<ref>Matthew 8:23-27 (NIV).</ref>
:Then [[Jesus]] got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" He replied, "You of little [[faith]], why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
It is not known whether adherents of faith-based or biblical approaches are employed in hospital emergency rooms or in police, fire, or similar first-responder organizations.
== Rationality-based approaches ==
As noted above, situations similar to the lifeboat problem actually do arise in modern life, and are the subject of serious study and training. The philosophical attitude of the practitioners of this approach appears to be "If God gave us brains, He probably intended that we use them."
== References ==
