Is it ethical to steal food, if there are no social services available and you are hungry?

Question

Generally there is someone or some organization would help, but in this hypothetical there is none.

Answer 1

It's unethical for us people WITH food to let people without food to starve.

I know stealings wrong, but I think that if you were stealing food to survive and maybe clothes Okay. But if you are stealing things that aren't purely for survival then it is wrong.

I wish we lived in a world where I could leave my house open. If anyone was hungry or in need of a place to stay, they could walk into any house. Help themselves to some food, have a nap and then be on their way.

Not have to worry about someone taking more than they need, stealing your things or hurting your family. So everyone would have a place to stay, someone to talk too and warm bed.

Answer 2

Ethics serve no purpose in survival.
In true reality, nothing has a set monetary value, value is only a number that a particular human decided was correct for a certain product, and it is a choice weather to agree with that value, steal it, or find something else of a more agreeable value. In extreme situations you must find/take what you need, or you will die. If you would rather die than disobey someone who denies you what your basic needs, then that's where Darwin's survival of the fittest comes in, and there's no way around it, you will die. Now if they have the means to pay for food, and they would rather spend it on drugs or whatever else they fancy, then it's definitely unethical for that person to steal food, but they probably don't care.

Answer 3

since ethical and legal are 2 different questions, i believe that this would be ethical assuming that:
1) there is no other way to get the food
2) you are truely hungry
3)by doing so you are not harming another person in any way
4)also that you are poor. if ur a guy with a job and a standard income and while walking down the street u suddenly discover that u left ur wallet and that you're hungry, then sorry mate, stay hungry.

at least thats what i think. u?

Answer 4

Survival doesn't care about ethics. In a survival situation the hungry would steal from each other.

Answer 5

Why can't it be wrong and OK at the same time?

Anytime theft is wrong. It is also morally repugnant for a person to be hungry. They can be both true. These are forces all being applied together.

The part people have trouble with is after it is over you cannot absolve the crime. You still have committed a crime.

Answer 6

No, it is not ethical to steal food under any circumstances.
Your statement really is not correct, unless you qualify it. For about 4 billion people in the world, there is no one nor any organization to provide aide.

Answer 7

In times of war (and many other times) children are left homeless and without parents and will do whatever it takes to survive.
The need to survive follows no rules - ethical or otherwise.

I agree with Miss*Blue: “It's unethical for us people WITH food to let people without food to starve.”

Laws are made to be broken.
Would I be wrong if I killed a man who was about to cut off a child’s head?

Answer 8

During moments of imminent danger or when on the verge of death, whatever ethics and principles one may adhere to may be cast aside for the sake of simply surviving.

Answer 9

Ask Jean Valjean.

Answer 10

If stealing is the only way you can think of to feed yourself, a lack of ingenuity is likely your largest issue. This is likely connected to the lack of food and the desire to steal.

So, no.