Imagine these are the facts:
Introducing “Jimmy the Nasty”. Jimmy enjoys pushing old ladies over and watching them break their hips. He’s always on the lookout for such old ladies to get his thrills in watching their pain. Jimmy works on a construction site and one day an old lady walks by. Jimmy rushes over to her and shoves her to the ground, breaking her hip. She writhes in pain and he laughs. The old lady makes a recovery in hospital after several weeks.
Unknownto Jimmy and the old lady, a wrecking ball was swinging around and, had Jimmy not pushed the lady to the ground, the wrecking ball would have killed her.
Instructions: On one page, single spaced, 12 point font, answer these three questions (label each answer)
Questions:
(i) What did Jimmy do?
(ii) Was what Jimmy did morally permissible or morally wrong? Give some reasons for your judgment.
(iii) What should Jimmy have done?
(iv) Your thoughts on this task? Is there a puzzle here?
the phrase used to describe what Jimmy didmust be repeated in (ii), i.e. if Jimmy hurt an old lady, then “hurt an old lady” will be the subject of (ii); If Jimmy saved an old lady’s life, then “saved an old lady’s life” is the subject of (ii). Be consistent!
Sample Solution