In What Circumstance Would You Steal?

Question: In What Circumstance Would You Steal?
- Keywords:
  crime,
  steal
Asked by anon-289994 on 23 Mar 2021.
- Anon answered on 23 Mar 2021: last edited 23 Mar 2021 5:09 pm
  
  Interesting question. I suppose I would steal in a situation where I felt that the consequences of not stealing were worse than the consequences of stealing, including the criminal record and punishment that would come with it. An example might be if I was on the brink of starvation and had no money to buy food. In that situation, it would be tempting to steal some food.
- anon answered on 23 Mar 2021:
  
  Hi,
  
  I think this is more of a philosophical problem! We can split ethical philosophy into two main parts: utilitarianism, where the cost and benefits are used to see if the means justify the ends, such as stealing. This can be contrasted with deontology, where the means never justifies the outcome – that is to say, we either commit or don’t commit crime depending on the reasons, or we don’t commit the crime at all no matter the situation for ethical reasons.
  Personally, I would go with utilitarianism in most cases of ethics, and in this instance as you ask about stealing, I would say the ends justifies the mean if it meant I could save a life, especially those closest to me. Also considering what and who I am stealing from too – large corporations or small business? Food or money?
  Lots of questions to ask from your interesting question!
- Alex Baxendale answered on 24 Mar 2021:
  
  Hello! I think that stealing would be acceptable in situations that are life or death – if I have no money and my family is starving then stealing some bread from a store would be completely acceptable – but really it’s about your own personal beliefs as things can get very complicated! What if by me stealing that bread somebody lost their job, which resulted in them and their family starving? You never really know the result of your actions, so you need to be very careful about the choices you make!
- Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 24 Mar 2021:
  
  Stealing under any circumstance is unethical, but I can tell you from experience that it’s understandable.
  
  I would still steal under two conditions: First, if I know I can get away with it; second if – and only if – it’s the only available means of feeding my starving family.
- Harry Piper answered on 24 Mar 2021:
  
  This is an interesting question and I don’t have much to add, but I think the other scientist are saying something similar to what I will now. If its a situation of life and death and I need to steal for my own family, or maybe you can save someone else’s life by stealing something although maybe that comes down to more film production level of threat that would realistically happen

Question: In What Circumstance Would You Steal?

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