Cannibalism

[Losty]

As far as the law is concerned, the matter is settled.

But think about it: Suppose someone threatened me with death, if I refused to torture people to death. Would that make it okay for me to torture people to death? Should I be willing to do anything in order to continue to live?

Or, to use the example of starvation. How would you feel if your child was on the boat with me, and I decided to go against what I have said is right, and I killed him or her in order to eat. Would you be okay with that? Should you be okay with that?

Or think about you being on the boat. If the principle is to be, it is okay to murder someone if one is very, very hungry, then the other people may decide to kill you first. Is that okay with you?

Think about what principles you would like for everyone to follow, and then I think you may come to see the wisdom of the law as it presently stands on this issue.

I'm not sure it's quite as easy as all that. Consider a scenario in which someone puts a gun to person A's head and says "kill B and C or I kill you."

I maintain that:
1) I personally (I think, and I hope) would choose to die rather than to have to kill two people.
2) I'd like for other people to make the same decision
3) I'm not comfortable *forcing* other people, legally, to make that decision.

By no means am I arguing that extreme necessity/duress should be a justification for murder, but I am of the opinion that it should be a legal excuse thereof.

Just a countervailing opinion

Duress is a legal excuse and I think it even applies to murder but I'm not certain. It has been a long time since I set foot in a classroom.