In this scenario, I would impose one hard and fast rule, followed by a few sub-rules. First, I would impose the moral imperative that no life, on a day for day basis, is more valuable than another life. Whether one is male, female, or otherwise, his life is not more valuable than anyone else’s life, but that is only true on a day for day basis. Having limited information, such as a person’s capacity to contribute to solutions that help humanity, one must conclude that younger people have more life remaining, and thus they are more valuable as lives. This means that whenever possible, the choice to save a younger person would be a better decision than the choice to save an older person. All of these rules rest on the uncomfortable assumption that one cannot know anything more about the individuals in question.
With that rule out of the way, the lifeboat quite obviously cannot be filled with all children. This means that the boat must be filled with at least some fit people. If a person is for some reason sickly or unable to survive a difficult boat trip, then that person should be left out in favor of a person who is healthy.
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From a strategic standpoint, there must be at least some people that are strong enough to row the boat. The boat is relatively large, too, so the group must be able to work together. This means that strategically speaking, it would be wise to have people of roughly equivalent strength in the same positions. This might make it imperative to have 25 men and 25 women, finding folks who can row together in order to maximize the chances of everyone in the boat making it home safely. It would not be smart to have all large, strong people, as this would seem to make it less likely that the boat can make it to shore safely.
- Gill, C. (2005). Virtue, norms, and objectivity: issues in ancient and modern ethics.
- Wiggins, D. (2005). Objectivity in ethics; two difficulties, two responses. Ratio,18(1), 1-26.
