Situation 1:

Your family is an exclusive vacation on a private stretch of beach with no lifeguard. Your
daughter and your niece, both 7, are best friends and eager to get into the water. You
caution them to wait until the water calms some, but they defy you any and sneak in
anyway. You soon hear screams of distress and find them both caught in a strong
current. You are the only swimmer strong enough to save them, but you can only save
one at a time. Your niece is a very poor swimmer and likely won’t make it much longer.
Your daughter is a strong swimmer, but only has a 50% chance of holding on long
enough for you to come back for her. Who would you save first and Why? Discuss what
would be the morally right action for those in Stage 1-6 of Kohlberg’s theory in the given
dilemma.

Answer:
This is definitely an interesting dilemma because no matter who will I save first, someone
will suffer or something bad will happen and there is going to be a greater amount of
guilt if it is not possible to make it to the other one and save her in time. That being said,
I’d likely go and save my daughter first because as a mother, my first instinct would tell
me to save my daughter and she is my own flesh and blood. I know it is horrible to not
save my niece first because she won’t make it much longer as my daughter but I don’t
think I would ever forgive myself if I saved someone else over my own child, regardless of
the circumstances. Although, she is the strongest swimmer, a 50% chance of survival is
just not enough. I am her parent and it is my responsibility to save her life in times of
disaster and I value her more than my niece. I have a stronger bond with my child than
my niece. Even if it was the more immoral decision to save my own child over my niece,
I’d be okay with acting in an immoral way because not saving my own child would not be
an option. Being a parent, my instinct will always override my rational decision. But, if I
save my daughter, even if there is low chance to save the life of my niece, I will still try
and attempt to rescue her because it is also my responsibility to ensure the other is
saved as well as possible.

Referring to Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, at the stages of 1-4, morality is

externally controlled. Moral standards are influenced by the adults and society.
Therefore, in these stages, they would choose to save the niece first because by weighing
the facts, the daughter has a higher chance of surviving than the niece who needed to be
rescued first. They would have to save the one struggling first and hope that the
daughter can hold on for a little longer because logically, this is the right thing to do.
Rather, they must choose to save both of them because it is good in itself, good for
society as a whole, good for the child as an individual, and good for the sake of God.
While, at the stages of 5-6, they would probably choose to save their own child because
though people will think that it is not morally significant that the love for their own child