Would you sacrifice your favourite family pet to save lives?

Question

Imagine, if you will, that by the strangest twist of highly unlikely circumstances, you find yourself in the following situation;
The 8:46 am train is inbound to a major city somewhere in India. It is fully laden with working gentlemen, who occupy the seats, aisles, outer steps and roof. The train is on a collision course with a similarly occupied stationary train being boarded prior to departure. Both drivers and the 1000 or so passengers will undoubtedly be lost in the forthcoming disaster. Your favourite family pet which, for the sake of our delightful story is a large cow named Buttercup, stands yards from the line between both trains. She is the only object to hand and the collision is imminent. You realise that by pushing Buttercup into the path of the moving train you can cause it to derail, saving many lives. So, do you fall for Buttercups sad eyes and walk into the sunset together, or does she get kebabed?

Answer 1

I would hope that I would sacrifice the cow since this is ethically the best thing to do but I know that as a human sometimes I err. It is not just a question of whether to regard animals as of equal value as humans because also to be considered is the number of lives. So, it comes down to your personal feelings for your pet vs compassion for saving many lives and here we should concern ourselves with the consequences of our action and thus sacrifice the cow

Answer 2

Given that Buttercup is a favorite family pet, and also that I firmly believe that I must kill Buttercup in order to save these thousands of lives, I am certain that I would be frozen in terror until it was too late to take action. It would be much the same as if you asked me to amputate a leg to save those people and gave me only four minutes notice.

Fortunately nobody would convict me of criminal negligence, since it is likely that my plan to sacrifice Buttercup was tragically flawed, and would have only caused an extra death- or possibly more.

Suppose instead that my cat had a strange mutation in his brain cells which, it seemed likely, could be used to synthesize a cure for some terrible deadly disease. In that case, I have the time to search my soul. I admit that it is not just in my right but my responsibility to make these decisions for Mickey, since he cannot make them himself. I consider that I might well give my own life if it were my brain that could save thousands of lives. I wonder if it might have been his reason for existing, and certainly it is a good way to die- to become a savior of thousands. I strongly suspect that I would do this, despite the obvious damage it would do to me.

A more interesting question would be: after sacrificing Buttercup, do you have a clear conscience? What if your sacrifice turned out to have no effect?

Answer 3

If I were an Indian who believed in the sacredness of cows (a belief ridiculous to most westerners), I would leave the cow to do as it will - it might, for all I know, wander into the path of the train - I would neither lead it toward nor away from the train.

If I were someone to whom cows are not sacred I might still leave the cow alone, simply because leading it into the train's path would entail a very significant risk to my own life. But if I were a sincere Utilitarian (a hero, that is) and believed that I must always act to produce the greatest good for the greatest number, I would certainly take that risk.

We are assuming here, are we not, that the derailment is going to save more lives than it costs?

Btw, it is appalling, is it not, to see how many of these answers display no understanding of morality (other than, perhaps, moral egoism, which is very arguably not morality). How they fail to realize that morality is not about what's best for themselves, but about what's best for others whether or not it is also best for oneself.

Answer 4

I would ask my Pet if they were willing to do it then if I didnt get a responce I would jump infront of the train and pray that I could derail the train myself. Because I believe in heaven and souls I think it would be wrong to force my Cow or anyone else into the path not knowing there faith. But honestly I think there is always a different way to solve any problem if you are wise and have the backing of God/universe. So your question is very leading but a good one none the less. If I knew I couldnt derail the train myself then I think the Cow would have to go and I would understand that by letting me push it in the way maybe the cow knew what was going on ect. Either way we all remain one with the universe having a mind or not. But I would rather have a mind for now untill its proven that not having one is safer lol. Who knows...

Answer 5

Because the situations are very unusual,i'll stand beside buttercup in the path. How can we sacrifice a living thing that serves us all this time faithfully? I don't need 'hero stamp' on my tombstone,but doing something good for others are never wrong,even if the one we help thinks doesn't need that or thinks how stupid i am. I'm not a spiritual man at all,but i knew death. If i betray buttercup or walk into sunset together,what He thinks? Except,He tells me another option right away. (this is unlikely circumstances,everything could happen)

Answer 6

Personally - Yes, I'd sacrifice the cow to save the lives of the passengers. I don't particularly believe that a person's life is worth more than an animal's; however, one death is unquestionably preferable to 1000.

As your story is set in India, however, where the cow is a sacred animal, local views may differ...

Answer 7

I vote for Buttercup. To live that is. I couldn't sacrifice a pet I love, and who loves me to save strangers on a train.

My pets would try to defend me if I were in danger and I'd do the same for them. I've always had more sympathy for the plight of animals than people anyway.

Answer 8

Well, thank you first of all, for at least attempting to make a ridiculous question not so utterly ridiculous by setting parameters...

However, my answer is that i dont think the cow is nearly heavy enough to derail however many pounds of metal a train is, plus the weight of all the passengers.

So, i wouldnt sacrifice the cow for no reason. It would just make the aftermath that more messy.

Answer 9

Since it's India...then I would value Buttercup's lovely gaze of holiness and walk towards the sunset with her at peace and tranquility in unity with the great mystics of Hinduism...trusting to reconcile the sounds of exploding trains colliding and @1000 people screaming in suffering and death, with the newfound peace I experience over my wise spiritually tuned-in decision...

Answer 10

No I would derail the train using YOU. Why do humans think they are "more important than" animals? Do they ever wonder if they'd still think this if they happened to have been born, say, a rabbit? Or would rabbits then become somehow entitled to better treatment than all other species put together?