Topics Ethics

Question I have a moral question concerning the following scenario: At a party you talk to another guest who you haven't met before. He is drinking several glasses of beer and intends to drive himself home later. Are you morally obliged to tell him he should not drink and drive even though that would be impolite and he presumably knows he shouldn't anyway? Thanks.

Accepted:
August 26, 2006

Comments

I don't think so. It would be like warning someone who is smoking that it is bad for him, or someone who is not taking much exercise that this is not a good idea. It might be said that these activities are not illegal (at present) and only affect the individual concerned. As for the latter, bad health affects a lot of others too, albeit indirectly, and as for the former, we do not generally feel obliged to warn people that they should not illegally park somewhere or obey the speed limit. We need to give people moral space in which to take their own risks and decide how they are going to act. On the other hand, this does not mean that if the individual concerned is very drink impaired that we should leave him to get into a car and drive home. Politeness only goes so far, but as the question is formulated we seem to be operating at the level of mild and acceptable risk, at least from a moral point of view.