A sixteen year old prisoner was raped by a guard in a Nazi concentration camp. The guard then stole the prisoner's cap, knowing that any prisoner that appeared without a cap in the morning would be immediately shot. If the prisoner was killed, nobody would be able to find out about the rape.
In order to stay alive, the prisoner decided to steal a cap from another inmate. The next morning the other prisoner was shot and killed.
The prisoner didn't want to know who the other man was. He was just happy to be alive.
What is the rational answer to this moral dilemma?
The Value Of A Life
Should one prisoner be valued over the other? Was the prisoner wrong for stealing the other's cap in order to save his own life? This is a tough moral dilemma, but one answer may be read below:
Answer:
The prisoner cannot be held morally responsible for the other's death. Let's take another example:
A kidnapper captures a boy's parents and holds them both up at gunpoint. The kidnapper tells the boy, you must do as I say or you will be at fault for your parents' deaths.
Regardless of following commands, is the boy really responsible for the death of his parents? No. The responsibility lies in the kidnapper committing the murder. Similarly, in the Nazi concentration camp, the responsibility of the death of the other prisoner rests on the guard committing the murder.
Do you agree with this answer? Can any definitive conclusion be drawn from this scenario?