An ethical problem

[The Individual]

I don't know how to answer this when a friend asked me.

Is it moral for someone to steal from a provision store to feed his hungry family? Since stealing is a breach of individual rights.

[bluecherry]

A provision store? Are we talking here like a government run operation in a country where the government doesn't recognize things like property rights much in general? If the government itself is very badly disrespecting your rights and thus thwarting your ability to be able to support your life, first off, if you can, get out of that country. Second, if not, this person hasn't been just trying to avoid accepting government rations or something and that is why they are so bad off, right? If so, then just take the dang rations, no shame in it, you weren't given the option to live by your own productivity thanks to a bunch of glorified thugs. Third and finally, if you can't leave and the rations aren't enough under a system of supposed government which doesn't respect your rights much of at all, then go ahead and rob that government run provision store I'd say if you think you can get away with it. The government itself has no right to that stuff anyway, they get it by being serious organized criminals essentially and you are one of those being victimized, that stuff in the provision store is there because you and others like yourself were robbed to put it there. I'd say robbing that store in a case like that falls under a category similar to that of lying to Nazis about where some Jewish friends are hidden until they (and maybe you, too) can hopefully get out of the country.

On the other hand though, if you mean a private store with stuff not funded by robbery in a country where the government isn't so bad it is damn near impossible for anybody to make a living through being productive, then first off, why is your family starving? Are you just being a lazy bum not willing to take a job to feed them or do what you need to to get a good enough source of income? If so, that doesn't justify the robbery. Just do what you've got to to make an honest living. Are you maybe recently stricken with a bad illness or injury and can't work? Probably this could have been avoided had you prepared and gotten good insurance. However, whether you screwed up on that insurance issue or not, you can probably seek private charity until you are able to support yourselves again. If you are in long term trouble though and won't be getting better, it may be time to consider giving custody of those kids (if you have them in this hypothetical family) up to somebody else who can take care of them and wishes to do so. I don't see how somebody could be ill or injured enough that they could not do anything to support themselves at all long term, yet still be fit to do a decent job of raising kids without assistance. Likewise though I'd be surprised if somebody was too injured to be able to perform much of any job for a long time, yet would still be healthy enough to be able to go rob a store.

Edited November 4, 2009 by bluecherry

[softwareNerd]

Is it moral for someone to steal from a provision store to feed his hungry family?

No, he should work for it, and if his family is old enough, they should too.

[Grames]

I don't know how to answer this when a friend asked me.

Is it moral for someone to steal from a provision store to feed his hungry family? Since stealing is a breach of individual rights.

No, it is not moral. This is not the real problem. The real problem is how to feed the hungry family. The scenario posed pits morality as a value against family, another value. Since family is tangible and morality an abstraction, the practical and pragmatic solution is to jettison morality. The lesson you are supposed to learn is that thinking is useless.

Instead learn the lesson of how to think in context. Once the provision store is empty or closed, how does someone feed his hungry family then? What happens next?

If no one is ever caught stealing from the store and the store never empties or closes, then the two fundamental reasons theft is immoral don't apply. Imagine someone inventing a perpetual motion machine, but you refuse to use because it is impossible. But if it exists then the principle that makes perpetual motion machines impossible is false, and if the magic store that never depletes or catches thieves exists then the principle that theft is immoral is false.

[whYNOT]

I don't know how to answer this when a friend asked me.

Is it moral for someone to steal from a provision store to feed his hungry family? Since stealing is a breach of individual rights.

The question is posed in such an innocuous way that hardly raises any values - such as morality, contra love of family. Mere hunger indicates no emergency.

You may well as ask "I love Ferraris; would it be ethical for me to 'borrow' a stranger's Ferrari for a week or two?

Instead of this the topic would have more relevance if the conditions were far more stringent : ie. His family is on the brink of death, from starvation - would it be moral to steal from a store to feed them.

(Is that closer to your friend's intent?)

Again the answer must be No, it is not moral.

But if asked would I do it (in full knowledge of that immorality), I would say Yes.

Why? because at that point in time, the value of my family would take precedence; TEMPORARILY.

From that point on I would then do the maximum to (a. Ensure that it never becomes necessary to repeat this immoral action, then, (b. I would find any type of work available to recompense the store owner (anonymously), plus interest, at even one dollar per week.

[Hotu Matua]

The question is posed in such an innocuous way that hardly raises any values - such as morality, contra love of family. Mere hunger indicates no emergency.

You may well as ask "I love Ferraris; would it be ethical for me to 'borrow' a stranger's Ferrari for a week or two?

Instead of this the topic would have more relevance if the conditions were far more stringent : ie. His family is on the brink of death, from starvation - would it be moral to steal from a store to feed them.

(Is that closer to your friend's intent?)

Again the answer must be No, it is not moral.

But if asked would I do it (in full knowledge of that immorality), I would say Yes.

Why? because at that point in time, the value of my family would take precedence; TEMPORARILY.

From that point on I would then do the maximum to (a. Ensure that it never becomes necessary to repeat this immoral action, then, (b. I would find any type of work available to recompense the store owner (anonymously), plus interest, at even one dollar per week.

It is inmoral.

That man can

1) Earn it working

2) Earn it offering something in exchange (future work, a kidney)

3) Asking a voluntary contribution (like in a refugee campus in Darfur)

I think this would solve 99.99% of these kind of situations

If all three above are not possible, then we are in a lifeboat situation, for which morality codes do not apply. If I were in such situation I would steal the food, as human life qua man is based on biological life as a precondition. But I would steal just what my family needs to stand on their feet and work.

Edited November 8, 2009 by Hotu Matua

[TheEgoist]

All the theft you can perpetrate won't solve any problem you have. It hasn't solved it yet. People get around 50% of their income taken from them, and yet millions still starve.