In the thought experiment from Bernard Williams, Jim is faced with a difficult decision. He finds himself in a small town in America, where there are a row of Indians tied to a wall surrounded by armed guards waiting to kill the protestors to punish them, and to show potential protestors of what could happen to them if they chose to act in the same manner. Jim finds that one of the men that he’s surrounded by is the captain, and he explains to him that he is there by mistake, is visiting from out of town and pleads for him to let him go. Because Jim is simply a guest in the area the captain compromises with Jim, and gives him an option to leave, but only under certain circumstances. If he hands him a gun and Jim chooses to kill just one of the Indians, they will release Jim him and the Indians tied to the wall. However, if Jim turns down the captain’s offer Pedro (One of the guards) will proceed with the original plan to kill all of the Indian protestors. Jim is placed in a difficult situation, he is forced to choose between the right and wrong thing to do. What should Jim do?
Deontological theories are different from utilitarian theories in several ways. Mill defines utilitarianism as a theory that is based on beliefs that actions are …show more content…
He should hold the soldiers hostage and let the Indians go. That way the Indians would be free and he would be left to deal with whatever comes next. However, I don’t believe that he should kill anyone, just threaten them. Although his plan might not work, I believe that the right thing to do would be to at least try and if he is killed because of his actions at least the Indians would be free. The other option that I agree with, would be for Jim to turn down the opportunity to kill the one Indian. Even though his actions might lead to everyone including him dying, I feel that he would have done the right thing by not killing
Deontological theories are different from utilitarian theories in several ways. Mill defines utilitarianism as a theory that is based on beliefs that actions are …show more content…
He should hold the soldiers hostage and let the Indians go. That way the Indians would be free and he would be left to deal with whatever comes next. However, I don’t believe that he should kill anyone, just threaten them. Although his plan might not work, I believe that the right thing to do would be to at least try and if he is killed because of his actions at least the Indians would be free. The other option that I agree with, would be for Jim to turn down the opportunity to kill the one Indian. Even though his actions might lead to everyone including him dying, I feel that he would have done the right thing by not killing