philosophy???

[Dev]

A violent criminal makes a believable threat that unless you kill an identified stranger, that criminal will kill two people currently held hostage. Is it morally acceptable for you to kill the stranger to save the two hostages? Does it change the moral calculation if the two hostages are close friends or family members?

[Ben]

No. It's even Biblical that no one is supposed to die or be killed so that even more than two be spared. Even if the person volunteers, his or her self-sacrifice cannot be accepted.

[Yaoi Shonen-ai]

"Morality pertains only to the sphere of man’s free will—only to those actions which are open to his choice."
“Playboy’s Interview with Ayn Rand,” March 1964.

Therefore, you have no moral choice in this matter except to do what you know is right, and that is not violate the inalienable right of one person for another--or for two.

What the criminal is doing is called "coercion."

"To interpose the threat of physical destruction between a man and his perception of reality, is to negate and paralyze his means of survival; to force him to act against his own judgment, is like forcing him to act against his own sight. Whoever, to whatever purpose or extent, initiates the use of force, is a killer acting on the premise of death in a manner wider than murder: the premise of destroying man’s capacity to live."
Galt’s Speech, For the New Intellectual, 133

That criminal is destroying your capacity to live, by making you choose two wrongs that he has chosen for you, and the only way out is to take the high road--do not slip to his level and commit a crime because you have no choice. You have a choice.

[Geri93940]

"Morality pertains only to the sphere of man’s free will—only to those actions which are open to his choice."
“Playboy’s Interview with Ayn Rand,” March 1964.

Ayn Rand's definition of morality differs quite a bit from God's. To find God's definition of morality you must study the Bible. I'll take God's definition over Ayn Rand's any day.

God says we must be "moral" regardless of what's going on around us. That's what separates the men from the boys. A boy would say, "I can't help it; there's nothing I can do about it." A man would step up and just do. A man of God would refuse to take the life of another for any reason.

[G J]

it would be wrong or immoral to kill the stranger to save your friend or family members life ! i'd still kill'm! hows that for an answer!