Scenario 2a From The Article 'Lifeboat Earth'

Lifeboat Earth Essay What is a common good? A common good is a social goal so to say, it is when the people of the society strive to do better than how they are doing now and they are served as examples of good ideals and values, and their rewards serve as incentives to the rest of the society to mimic them, which is what contributes to the common good. An example to this is college. In college, the people who work hard and get good grades get rewarded with higher scholarships and are recognized for it. The others who did not get those grades and didn’t receive the high scholarship notice the recognition for the students who did and strive to get that recognition as well. This contributes to the common good, which is benefitting all. Keep
in mind that our country, The United States of America, does not exactly coincide with the common good. We are more of a meritocratic country, which means instead of the college students who did not reach a high enough grade point average to receive the high scholarships and trying hard to actually reach it next time, just excepted that the students who worked harder to get the good grades and got the scholarship were the ones who deserved it and got the recognition. Meritocracy is often used to describe Aristotle as well; from a lecture we had in class about utilitarianism, I was given a PowerPoint that talked about Aristotle and it had said that “The best players deserve the best flutes. This is because they will appreciate them more and make the best use of them by playing well: providing good music for all of society.” This is an example of meritocracy because Aristotle is only recognizing the best flute players and only giving them the best flutes and not letting those who don’t know how to play, have a flute and potentially living up to the standards and contributing to the common good. Aristotle’s view of virtue, justice, and the common good play a role in an article called, Lifeboat Earth, written by author Onora Nell. In this paper, I argue that, scenario 2A from the article, Lifeboat Earth, is a perfect example of Aristotle’s view of virtue, justice, and the common good. I selected this theory because Aristotle states that people get what they deserve when they work for it, they contribute what they are capable of to the common good and only the best will survive this. It fits in well because one was the weakest link and because he wasn’t capable of contributing he was killed off. In scenario 2A from the article Lifeboat Earth by Onora Nell, there are six people, A,B,C,D,E, and F.
They are stranded on an under-equipped lifeboat and know that not all are going to survive. Person A is ill and is in need of extra amounts of water. Instead of letting A have the extra water in order for him to survive, B,C,D,E, and F refuse to give him any at all and let him die of thirst. They knew A was the weakest link and saved the water for the stronger and healthier people because they knew they would survive. Because A was refused water he was killed instead of just dying on his own, making him a victim and this requires
justification. The first piece of evidence that Aristotle’s theory supports in scenario 2A is that A was killed for being the weakest link. He died of thirst because he was sick and needed extra water that was already scarce. In Lifeboat Earth, it states, “the others decided not to let him have any water, and A dies of thirst.” Aristotle says, “The best players deserve the best flutes…they will make the best out of them by playing well…” which in this situation is saying the healthy deserve to have the water because they will make the best of it. The second piece of evidence of scenario 2A supports Aristotle’s view of the common good. Aristotle says, “…that which is good is whatever gives people what they earned or deserve.” And in the article it says, “On an under-equipped lifeboat with six persons. A is very ill and needs extra water, which is already scarce….if A drinks, then not all will survive.” Because in this situation being healthy is the good and the water is what they deserve, Aristotle’s point is proven. This justifies them killing off A. The third piece of evidence in scenario 2A states that, “If he (A) had received water he might have survived.
Though some death was unavoidable, A’s was not and selecting him as the victim requires justification.” In Aristotle’s theory this statement is incorrect because this was unavoidable, he was the weakest link and he wasn’t contributing to the common good, when the other five were. If they had let A survive and let him drink the extra water he needed, the others would have been left with not enough for their selves to survive and the others would have lost their lives and the point is to keep as many alive as possible. A was the weakest link and didn’t contribute so he needed to be let go in order for the others to
survive. Something to take away from this is that this situation can happen, not every day do you see on the news that people are stuck in the ocean on a lifeboat, but you do see every day people getting what they put out into the world. Back the college student example; (because I am a college student and I understand this analogy fairly well) you do see people getting what they put out. If you work hard and put everything you have got into your assignments and take it seriously you will get the grades to qualify for a higher scholarship. They do not hand those out to everyone! And those who do not contribute to the common good, like the students who do not attend class or don’t do the assignments, will not get what the students who do the work deserve. Aristotle’s view of virtue, justice, and the common good apply to everyday life in a lot of situations, especially in the article Lifeboat Earth scenario 2A.