--- title: Lifeboat choices — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Lifeboat choices», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A dilemma is a hard choice where every option costs something: a lifeboat with room for only some people, one dose of medicine and two sick peopl --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / Lifeboat choices # Lifeboat choices Lesson 48 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 18 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/0/) — A dilemma is a hard choice where every option costs something: a lifeboat with room for only some people, one dose of medicine and two sick people, one place left on the school trip. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/1/) — Ethics asks not only "what should we choose?" but "how should we choose?": a fair way, such as drawing lots, a waiting list or helping the one in greatest need, can be better than picking favourites. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/2/) — Two kinds of thinking often meet here: rules thinking ("some things you must never do") and consequences thinking ("do what leads to the best results"), and they do not always agree. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/3/) — Christians see Jesus giving his life for others as the greatest example of self-sacrifice; it is admired, but nobody is required to be a hero. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/4/) — Sometimes there is no perfect answer; then a child today can still choose the least bad option, give honest reasons and treat everyone with respect. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/5/) — A dilemma is a choice in which every option has a cost. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/6/) — In the lifeboat dilemma there is room for only some people, and ethics asks which ways of choosing are fair. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/7/) — Fair procedures for sharing something scarce include drawing lots (picking names out of a hat), a waiting list and helping those in greatest need. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/8/) — Choosing only the "most useful" people is often criticised as unfair, because every person has equal worth. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/9/) — The trolley problem pictures a runaway tram (a trolley) heading for five people, and a lever that would switch it onto a track where it would hit one; it asks whether it is right to let one person be harmed to save five; people still disagree about it. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/10/) — Rules thinking and consequences thinking often give different answers to the trolley problem. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/11/) — Many people think there is a difference between doing harm and allowing harm, though this is disputed. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/12/) — "Women and children first" was an old rule for shipwrecks; people still discuss whether it is fair. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/13/) — Many people think the most vulnerable, such as small children, should be protected first. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/14/) — A group that must live together, as on a desert island, needs fair rules and leaders who serve everyone. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/15/) — Christians see Jesus' death for others as the greatest example of self-sacrifice. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/16/) — Self-sacrifice is admired, but it is usually seen as going beyond duty, not something everyone is required to do. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/48-lifeboat-choices/17/) — Some dilemmas have no clearly right choice; then we look for the least bad option and give honest reasons. - ← previous: [The environment](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/47-the-environment/) - next →: [Rights, duties and community dilemmas](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/49-rights-duties-and-community/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)