Thought Experiment: Culpability By Inaction

[JimmyNic]

Imagine you are walking through a factory, doing your rounds as a security guard. You pass through a room that contains several test chambers. All looks normal until you see that there is a man stuck inside of one of the test chambers. Seeing you he starts banging on the glass, and you quickly run over to him.

"The test is about to start, and I've been trapped inside! Hit the emergency stop button or else I will be killed by the machinery!"

If you do not hit the stop button, are you culpable for his death?

[Jack]

Legally, morally, in the eyes of others or in your own eyes? We need more parameters.

[JimmyNic]

Legally, morally, in the eyes of others or in your own eyes? We need more parameters.

I left it deliberately open.

[Thanatos]

Fully culpable. The guard knew what was going to happen and stopping it would have been simple. I am not a lawyer, but by my understanding of the legal term "depraved indifference" there might also be serious legal culpability.

I predict that every single neoliberal will fail to hold the guard morally culpable.

[Jack]

Imagine you are walking through a factory, doing your rounds as a security guard. You pass through a room that contains several test chambers. All looks normal until you see that there is a man stuck inside of one of the test chambers. Seeing you he starts banging on the glass, and you quickly run over to him.

"The test is about to start, and I've been trapped inside! Hit the emergency stop button or else I will be killed by the machinery!"

If you do not hit the stop button, are you culpable for his death?

Why would anyone not hit the button? Is there a penalty in doing so? Was the guard told that if he ever hit the button he'd lose his job and thus put his entire family at risk of homelessness and poverty? Was he told he'd be prosecuted if he hit the button? With no motivation to not hit the button presented I can see no reason anyone would refrain from helping the trapped man. If the guard did fail to help him I would say he's very much responsible for the man being killed, morally and possibly legally.

[Charlatan]

I think you need to add parameters, Jimmy...

[JimmyNic]

Why would anyone not hit the button? Is there a penalty in doing so? Was the guard told that if he ever hit the button he'd lose his job and thus put his entire family at risk of homelessness and poverty? Was he told he'd be prosecuted if he hit the button? With no motivation to not hit the button presented I can see no reason anyone would refrain from helping the trapped man. If the guard did fail to help him I would say he's very much responsible for the man being killed, morally and possibly legally.

It's not actually relevant why he would not hit the button. He has a choice between hitting it and not hitting it, and the consequences are the man surviving and the man dying, and nothing else. But let's also create a B scenario wherein hitting the button will save the man but also forfeit him his job. Still culpable?

[Jack]

Sure. There might be a slight hesitation as he weighs the merits of action versus inaction, but in the end a compassionate person would realize a man's life is worth more than a job (in an abstract scenario like this, anyway). Now what if the guard has a child with a serious illness and can only be kept alive by extremely expensive operations? Now he has to weight the life of this man (is he a stranger, a friend, someone he doesn't like?) against the life of his child.

Hmmm...

[minorwork]

The trapped man would die without the guard being present? That is too bad. The guard can only save him. The guard did NOT create the situation. Have I got that right?

There are degrees of culpability aren't there?

[Trojan_Ripper]

Imagine you are walking through a factory, doing your rounds as a security guard. You pass through a room that contains several test chambers. All looks normal until you see that there is a man stuck inside of one of the test chambers. Seeing you he starts banging on the glass, and you quickly run over to him.

"The test is about to start, and I've been trapped inside! Hit the emergency stop button or else I will be killed by the machinery!"

If you do not hit the stop button, are you culpable for his death?

Even though he did not cause the man to be trapped...."Yes".

[minorwork]

The Iranian rebels are trying to overthrow a government. The Syrian rebels are trying to overthrow a dictator. The Libyan rebels are trying to throw off Quadafi. OK, Libya is the closest to pushing a button. The others might demand some soft shoe, too.

Is an observer able to help those as culpable as the guard?

[Trojan_Ripper]

The Iranian rebels are trying to overthrow a government. The Syrian rebels are trying to overthrow a dictator. The Libyan rebels are trying to throw off Quadafi. OK, Libya is the closest to pushing a button. The others might demand some soft shoe, too.

Is an observer able to help those as culpable as the guard?

Not sure who you addressed your question Minor….my resposnse to your scenario would be.

"This is not like a car crash you "observe" and wether you stop and render aid after the crash. You did not have a “stop” button to keep the crash from happening in the first place".