Lie, Cheat, Steal: High School ethics surveyed

raimius
Sun, 07 Dec 2008 01:47:45 +0000

Nick, you are making a very utilitarian argument for cheating, but there are limits to your absolute claims.

(in the extreme)
If someone figured out a 100% guaranteed way to murder every single student above their class rank, would it be allright to do it? It would make them the valedictorian with no risk to themself. That is a measurable gain, with no risk. Would it be acceptable? I would hope not!

Fortunately, most people do recognise some limit to “acceptable” actions. It seems that line has been moving further up the scale of severity. Where does it need to stop? Does anyone here think it should not stop?