The captain of a boat is smuggling a family of refugees from Nazi Germany and they are

all in danger of being discovered. The captain must choose whether or not to lie to the Nazi
officer to protect the people in his care. The question of this assignment is what would the
captain do if he followed Utilitarianism or if he choses follow Deontology. If the captain does not
lie, he and his charges will be killed by the Nazi officer if he discovers the refugee onboard.
If the captain is a follower of Utilitarianism, he would choose the option to lie and save
himself and the refugees. Utilitarianism is the philosophy of the greatest amount of well-being
for the greatest amount of people. It is also a consequential philosophy, meaning the morality of
the act is based on the consequences. By lying to the Nazi officer, the Captain will save his life
and the lives of the people who are in danger. This is clearly the choice that brings the most
well-being for them.
If the captain follows Deontology, he would choose his own moral code over his life and
his charges. He would not lie to save their lives. Deontology is the philosophy of duty for duty’s
sake. It is an absolute theory, ‘ought to, no exceptions, no desires, universal, and non-
consequential. You should always act in a way that you want everyone to act. If it is wrong to lie,
then it is always wrong to lie. Because it is a non-consequential theory, lying to save his and the
refugees lives would still be immoral.
What would I do? I would choose Utilitarianism. I would lie through the skin of my teeth
and be perfectly happy to do so. While I could argue that the Deontology choice could include
the fact that the Captain of the ship has a duty to protect the people in his care, people who are
trusting their lives to him. I don’t feel that it needs to be that complicated. If I valued my own
moral code, if I followed Deontology about lying is wrong in all cases, over the lives of people
who are in danger, that would be evil. It would be as immoral the actions the Nazi officer, who
testified that he was a good man because he was following his duty, even though he had a hand
in the deaths of millions of people.