My Quick Wit Emerges Victorious Once Again

I stumbled on a new blog recently called Little Catholic Bubble, which asks and discusses theological and moral issues. It's very interesting, go check it out!


Anyway, she hosts fun interactive posts every once in awhile, and yesterday she hosted the Doctrinal Quiz Show: Moral Reasoning 101. You can check it out, as well as all the answers, over there, but here is the scenario:

You are driving up a narrow two-lane road which winds steeply around a tall mountain. There are no other cars on the road, and you are going the speed limit on a clear day. As you come around yet another tight bend, you notice a young woman standing in the middle of the road. You are horrified! You cannot brake quickly enough to avoid hitting her, but you do have time to make a decision. You can choose to swerve to your right and face severe injury or death as you fly off the cliff; you can choose to swerve to the left and face severe injury or death by slamming into the side of the mountain; or, you can choose to go forward, which will mean certain death for the innocent young woman. 

Morally, what option(s) may you choose, and why?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, my quick wit failed to reason out the correct answer, but my thought process basically went like this:

Can I kick the car into neutral and slide backwards down the mountain, away from the woman and my own certain death?

Good, right? Yes, it lacks plausibility, but then everybody lives injury free! Well, my lovely sense of humor won out this time. That's right, I am now the proud recipient of The Wouldn't the Throwing the Car into Neutral Just Make You Roll Off the Mountain Backwards? Bubble Award! Please, hold your applause. I beat out some great contenders, like the folks who wanted to take time to dial 911 while slamming on the breaks and swerving. Yes, I am very honored and humbled by this award. It was quite a spiritual workout to come up with that answer, no?


The actual moral reasoning deals with the principle of double effect, so you should go check out the reasoning behind it - very interesting! Be sure to check it out, the questions definitely pose some deep spiritual workout action!