1. Can Murder Be Justified? Harvard Justice Course

2. Watch Video: First 5 mins http://youtu.be/kBdfcR-8hEY The initial question is “ Is it better to kill one person rather than 5.” Nearly everyone agrees But there is an implied question here: “Do I have the right to kill?” and a further question “If I am forced to kill how do I choose”. In the simple case everyone would agree than 1 death is better than 5, but is life ever that simple? What if the one person was your close relative and the 5 people you have never met before? There are many emotional points to make here, but the point about knowledge is “What criteria do I use to make the VALUE JUDGEMENT about who to kill?” The question can be approached from the point of view of MORAL RELATIVISM i.e. Do I believe that some peoples lives have more value than others It also might be looked at in terms of UTILITARIANISM i.e. How can I maximise the total sum of good/happiness from a difficult situation. Another perspective is Moral Absolutism e.g. Kantian Ethics which would look at the basic right to life of all people no matter who thy are. In the simple case, 1 dies or 5, UTILITARIANISM seems to give the common sense solution.

3. The real world is complicated though and MORAL RELATIVISM and SELF INTEREST are likely to play a larger role. We are going to watch the rest of the video and I want you to pay attention to the WoK of REASON which is developed to a high level. A question for you: If you listen though the talk thought the filter of EMOTION do you have a different impression?