Are you morally obliged to withstand torture in order to save the life of your child?

[Yusuf Evans]

Moral obligation, no. However, a parent would have to decide whether or not the person that's gonna torture them will wind up killing the child anyways. It's much more complex than just yes or no.

 

[Belk]

don’t you see that this is just a thinly veiled metaphor for giving birth or decide that a person shouldn’t allow their baby to live?

Yes, I see that (though I admit I had missed it at first, must need more coffee). Does that change your answer somehow?

 

[Belk]

If someone is made to choose between severe physical torture for themselves, or a quick, painless death for their child, I would certainly admire them for undergoing the torture and saving their child, but I wouldn't condemn them for giving in.

What do you think?

I find it very unlikely that any parent would NOT undergo the torture for their child. I'm sure their are a few,but not many. Would I condemn them? Publicly, no. In my heart of hearts, yes.

 

[Axioma]

Well, to make this a proper analogy to abortion, we'd need to ask if you're morally obliged to torture the people who don't volunteer to be tortured yourself. And even then, it's not entirely accurate given how whimsical Americans can be about torture when it's happening to other people.

 

[Chaplain David]

If someone is made to choose between severe physical torture for themselves, or a quick, painless death for their child, I would certainly admire them for undergoing the torture and saving their child, but I wouldn't condemn them for giving in.

What do you think?

So is this like you're in a prison camp and your child is somewhere else and the guard says, we won't torture you but in order for us to refrain an agent will go kill your child?

 

[keith99]

So is this like you're in a prison camp and your child is somewhere else and the guard says, we won't torture you but in order for us to refrain an agent will go kill your child?

I was much more inclined to think the question is 'where is the kid'. If you don't tell us we will torture yuo until you do.

 

[cantata]

It really doesn't matter what the exact situation is, guys. It's what's called a thought experiment. You can add as many things to it as you like that will make you comfortable with there being a very simple, this-or-that choice, but it's really irrelevant. You must simply assume, for the sake of argument, that you have ONLY two options to choose between: the quick and painless death of your child, or several hours of severe torture for yourself.

 

[visionary]

Hours for me vs lifetime for my child.... surely you can put up with a few hours for the sake of your child's life.

 

[cantata]

(Additional question: what about if it were someone else's child?)

 

[spartacus1984]

Can we just get some thing straight,
“cantata” isn’t a psychopath.
and
This “thought experiment” doesn’t mean that “cantata” is a psychopath.
Lot of people did experiment such as these, the Nazis for example, did experiment such as these.
This “thought experiment” doesn’t mean that “cantata” is a Nazi psychopath .
and

I don’t think I would just kill the psychopath who wants to torture you and then save the babies life.

Don’t you agree we really shouldn’t just kill all psychopath and then save the babies life.
And Don’t you agree we really shouldn’t just hunt down psychopath and just killing all psychopath isn’t going to Make the world a safer place for babies ?
and
And Don’t you agree we really shouldn’t just hunt down psychopath and just killing all psychopath isn’t going to Make the world a safer place for all of us?
just Saving babies life really isn’t the most important thing to do?
isn’t it?

 

[B'alaam]

don’t you see that this is just a thinly veiled metaphor for giving birth or decide that a person shouldn’t allow their baby to live?

Oh, it could be.
It could also be a thinly veiled metaphor for the creation of a new nation, or an author trying to create a new book.
I, however, will address it as posted (i.e. without assuming metaphor).

I would also not condemn them for giving in.
See spartacusbot, see how easy that was?

Now to go on a bit-
If I were in that situation, I would like to think that I would withstand the torture (even unto death)...However (and this is the important part) unless I were (or have been) in that specific situation, there is *no way* I can say, one way or another (at least with complete honesty), how I would react. And anyone who hasn't been in that exact situation who says otherwise...well I doubt their honesty.