300 WORDS 0R MORE A Classic Dilemma: Stealing Food Scenario and Instructions: A teenage girl named Lena is living on the streets of Warsaw, Poland during the last days of World War II. She thinks of

300 WORDS 0R MORE 

A Classic Dilemma: Stealing Food

Scenario and Instructions:

A teenage girl named Lena is living on the streets of Warsaw, Poland during the last days of World War II. She thinks of herself as a good person and follows the tenets of her parent's faith, Orthodox Judaism, even though they are now dead, having died in the war two years earlier. She believes that it is wrong to steal.

After nearly four months of missing meals and scrounging for food in the garbage and having to ask strangers for handouts, Lena has steadily lost body weight. She is now "skin and bones." She knows enough to understand that if she doesn't get nutritious food soon, she will soon become ill, and probably die either of starvation or some sickness that her weakened body cannot fight. Others are dying all around her in similar circumstances. She knows it is a hard way to die. On some days, Lena can forget that she is hungry and her stomach leaves her with a measure of peace, but on other days, Lena's appetite grows strong enough to nearly drive her mad. On such days, all she can think about is food.

One day, the type of day that finds Lena feeling especially hungry, a truck carrying fruits, vegetables, and cheese has an accident near Lena's makeshift shelter. The driver had lost control on a small patch of ice and slid into a telephone pole. He was knocked unconscious, but he looked like he would be fine. He would wake up in a few minutes.

No one saw the accident; it was still very early in the morning. Lena knows that she can steal some of the food without being caught. This will likely be enough food to restore her health and give her a chance to survive the war and then live a normal life. If she decides not to steal, she will soon die. (Please note, however, that this is not to be thought of as a form of suicide.)

The ethical question: should Lena steal the food to survive?

Your task, burgeoning ethicists, is (1) to answer the above ethical question from the perspective of one of our four main theories and then (2) critique that theory's reasoning and conclusion using your own rational argumentation. Please do not offer an opinion as a stand-alone answer. Opinions should appear nowhere in your posts. Rely only on your analysis of theories and arguments. Your initial post should be at least 300 words.

Your choice of theory must be one of the following:

A. Divine Command Theory

B. Kantian Duty-Based Ethics

C. Act Utilitarianism

D. Ethical Egoism (subjective relativism)

No research is needed, and it is best if you leave it out for this type of discussion. However, if you do mention a source, provide citation information in the form of endnotes with page numbers.

Prepare a post on your computer first, in a word processor. Do a spell check. Look at the word count number. Add that number to the top of your post (should be 300 or higher). Then copy-paste your text, including the number, into the DB text box. Adjust the formatting as needed. Submit. Then check to see if the post was submitted properly. If there is any doubt that the post was accepted into Bb, email the text to the instructor as a fail-safe.