The plot from the book I'm currently reading gave me room to think about this idea, and I thought that the moral implications surrounding the issue, and the number of different ways you could approach it from were quite interesting.
In a nutshell, my question is, granted that you had the skills and experience, would you help a stranger who came to you that is determined to commit an act that is either socially, legally, morally, or ethically wrong, but for you the issue is in some murky morally grey area. From this one meeting you know that without your help that they will almost definitely be captured/tortured/killed, and that, with your help, they definitely have a much better chance of succeeding. Also, your first impressions are that they are 'helpless', maybe giving you some desire to protect them.
To expand on this, or for further thought:
What if, from this brief introduction to them, you feel that you could like them (or more) if you knew them further, or they invoke some feeling of connection (they remind you of a sibling, friend, lover, child, or yourself at a younger age). Would this change your decision?
Where do you draw the line? (eg murder is too far over the line).
You could approach this from the point of view of a soldier, an ex-assassin, or someone like Dexter (in this case killing, for you, may prove no issue, but the difficulties may come from more pragmatic reasons eg. would helping them bring some risk of danger to yourself)
What if they seemed to be impulsive? Maybe agreeing to whatever conditions you put on their training, and even believing their promises at the moment, but later they could either break of their training halfway due to impatience, or at the time of committing the deed they could recklessly break away from the mission plan, placing themselves in needless danger.
These are a few of the ideas that have been bouncing around my head, I'd be quite interested to hear
others have to say.
In a nutshell, my question is, granted that you had the skills and experience, would you help a stranger who came to you that is determined to commit an act that is either socially, legally, morally, or ethically wrong, but for you the issue is in some murky morally grey area. From this one meeting you know that without your help that they will almost definitely be captured/tortured/killed, and that, with your help, they definitely have a much better chance of succeeding. Also, your first impressions are that they are 'helpless', maybe giving you some desire to protect them.
To expand on this, or for further thought:
What if, from this brief introduction to them, you feel that you could like them (or more) if you knew them further, or they invoke some feeling of connection (they remind you of a sibling, friend, lover, child, or yourself at a younger age). Would this change your decision?
Where do you draw the line? (eg murder is too far over the line).
You could approach this from the point of view of a soldier, an ex-assassin, or someone like Dexter (in this case killing, for you, may prove no issue, but the difficulties may come from more pragmatic reasons eg. would helping them bring some risk of danger to yourself)
What if they seemed to be impulsive? Maybe agreeing to whatever conditions you put on their training, and even believing their promises at the moment, but later they could either break of their training halfway due to impatience, or at the time of committing the deed they could recklessly break away from the mission plan, placing themselves in needless danger.
These are a few of the ideas that have been bouncing around my head, I'd be quite interested to hear
others have to say.
