"A mayor of a small Greek village being occupied during the second world war by the Nazis ... there are some resistance fighters in town ... only three of them, they shot three German officers on the beach, so the German officers decide to retaliate. And they bring into the center of the square a thousand of the women and children of the city and put them into this little encirclement. They capture the three resistance fighters. [...] They bring the mayor out and now they give him the following choice, you would think that a moral theory might help with this. They say look, if you shoot the three in front of your townspeople then we will let everybody out of the pen. So there's a good utilitarian thing you gotta do, right? Shoot em quick, because there's three lives against a thousand and the utilitarian calculation is simple. [...] He struggles with the decision and decides to shoot the three guys. [...] And the Germans pulled a small trick on him. They have unloaded the rifles. So he can't shoot them. He'll have to club them to death."

from:
Rick Roderick on John Stuart Mill on Liberty [full length], referring to John Fowles novel "The Magus"
   • Rick Roderick on John Stuart Mill on ...  

#snippet