MCT-engl. © 1977-2009 by Georg Lind (rev. 06-2009)
Recently a company fired some people for unknown reasons. Some workers think that their bosses are listening in on their private conversations through cameras and microphones in the building and using the information against them. The bosses say that they are not listening in. The workers cannot legally do anything until they can prove that their bosses are listening in on their conversations. Two workers then break into the main office and take the tapes that prove their bosses were listening in.
| Would you agree or disagree with the workers’ action ... |
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How acceptable do you find the following arguments in favor of the two workers’ action? Suppose someone argued they were right for breaking in . . .
| because they didn’t cause much damage to the company. |
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| because the company did not follow the law that says that they should not listen in, the actions of the two workers were allowed to bring back law and order. |
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| because most of the workers would approve of their action and many would be happy about it. |
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| because trust between people and individual dignity count more than the company’s rules. |
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| because the company had done something wrong first by listening in, the two workers were right in breaking into the main office. |
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| because the two workers saw no legal ways of proving the company misused their trust by listening in, and therefore chose what they considered the lesser of two evils. |
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How acceptable do you find the following arguments against the two workers´ actions? Suppose someone argued they were wrong for breaking in . . .
| because if everyone acted as the two workers did, we would be going against law and order in our society. |
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| because a person must not break such a basic right as the right to protection of property and take the law into one's own hands, unless there is universal moral principle that says it is o.k. to do so. |
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| because risking getting fired from the company in order to help other workers is not very smart. |
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| because the two workers should have used all the legal ways available to them without breaking a law. |
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| because a person doesn't steal if he wants to be considered decent and honest. |
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| because the firing of other workers had nothing to do with them, the two workers had no reason to steal the tapes. |
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Moral Judgement Test MCT / MKT. International Copyright © 1977-2014 by Georg Lind. No copying allowed without written permission. Free for use in institutions of public education and basic research. Contact: Georg.Lind@uni-konstanz.de More information: http://www.uni-konstanz.de/ag-moral/ .