Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics: The Paradox of the Benefiting Samaritan
This essay was the winner in the Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics Graduate Category
Written by University of Oxford student Miles Unterreiner
Question to be answered: Why is it wrong to benefit from injustice?
In the 2005 film Thank You for Smoking, smooth-talking tobacco company spokesman Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is charged with publicly defending the interests of Big Tobacco. Naylor is invited to a panel discussion on live TV, where he faces an unfriendly studio audience; Robin Williger, a 15-year-old cancer patient who has recently quit smoking; and anti-smoking crusader Ron Goode, who works for an organization dedicated to fighting tobacco consumption. Naylor boldly goes on the attack against Goode, accusing him and his organization of benefiting from the well-publicized deaths of lung cancer patients:
Naylor: The Ron Goodes of this world want the Robin Willigers to die.
Goode: What?
Naylor: You know why? So that their budgets will go up. This is nothing less than trafficking in human misery, and you, sir, ought to be ashamed of yourself.Read More »Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics: The Paradox of the Benefiting Samaritan