Professional Ethics

Assignment: 01
Kainat Agha
cms: 304512
BESE-10A

Scenerio:
The ‘Lifeboat’ Dilemma
The ship is sinking, and the seas are rough. All but one lifeboat has been destroyed. The lifeboat holds a
maximum of six people. There are ten people that want to board the lifeboat. The four individuals who do
not board the boat will certainly die.
a.       Woman who is six weeks pregnant
b.      Lifeguard
c.       Two young adults who recently married.
d.      Senior citizen who has fifteen grandchildren
e.       Prominent professor at university
f.        Thirteen-year-old twins
g.      Veteran surgeon
h.      Captain of the ship
Required:
If you are the captain, who should you allow to board the boat? And why?
You are required to present your agreement or disagreement with the statement. Support your
arguments in the light of all previous lectures delivered in the course.

People that I would like to Save:

 I will choose two young adults because they are newlyweds, as they are beginning an
important part of their life and probably they are going to bring another life into this
world. The future of their lives is just in the beginning stages and it would be wrong to
save one without the other.
  I will choose the two thirteen years old twins because somehow their situation resembles
to that of couple, just on the beginning stages of their lives. It is not fair to dismiss them
or to leave them on the ship where there is a high chance for them to not being able to
survive. Their lives are just starting to fit because they will be ready to get used to high
school, driving, relationships and more.
 I will also choose the veteran surgeon because I think it will be a good idea to have
someone with medical experience on the lifeboat to help with a possible medical
condition.
 Lastly I will choose professor because I think teachers and students are the assets of one’s
country. Teachers are not normal human beings but it is just a super cool thought that
they are those who inspire the upcoming generation.

Other People:
 The choice to decide who deserves to live and who not is really tough to make. These
questions are difficult to answer because there are no set rules to answer them; but these
are some reasons why I didn’t choose other persons on the ship.
 The word “Think” didn’t let me choose the woman who thinks she is 6 week pregnant, if
it wouldn’t be there I would definitely have chosen her because then there could be no
doubt that she is about to give birth to a life.
 I didn't choose the lifeguard of the ship because I think it is his job to face such situation
and give priority to the safety of others over his personal interests.
 Reason behind not choosing the grandmother is this that she has probably seen all the ups
and downs all the blossoms and sadness of her life even though she has fifteen
grandchildren, I think she has gone through life but still there are many other people who
haven’t even started it yet properly.