What are some other examples of normally immoral actions that are justified under extenuating circumstances?

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I’ve been thinking a lot about morality lately. Not just sexual morality, but the absolutism vs. relativism conflict and morality as a whole. As I was doing this, I was thinking about these extenuating circumstances wherein an action, normally viewed as immoral, might be justified.

The examples of this that I came up with are the obvious ones (to me, anyway), such as killing in self defense or just wars. My question is, what are some other examples of these exceptions? My curiosity in this field has been sparked so I figured I’d ask.

I did have one situation in particular that I wanted to ask about, though. I’m sure this question has been asked before, but what is to be thought of stealing in a dire situation, such as to feed a starving family?

Please give any examples you can think of. 🙂
 
Absolute, intrinsic immoralities are never justified under any extenuating circumstances. No such situations exist. The example you gave demonstrates the difference between killing and murder and is not an exception to this rule.
 
passus said:
Absolute, intrinsic immoralities are never justified under any extenuating circumstances. No such situations exist. The example you gave demonstrates the difference between killing and murder and is not an exception to this rule.
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You’re right, that slipped my mind as I was thinking. Thanks for reminding me of that. :o
 
It would appear as though either cannibalism is not in fact intrinsically evil or some officials in the Vatican simply erred in their judgment in the early 1970s (which was not exactly the healthiest period of time for moral theology, I believe).

In either case this has caused a bit of scandal, unfortunately. Consider the message The Telegraph takes away from the incident:

“Survival cannibalism made headlines after the 1973 [sic] Andes air crash. Sixteen Catholics had stayed alive by eating those who either died on impact or subsequently. The Vatican advised that, although those who had chosen to starve were not guilty of the sin of suicide, those who practised cannibalism had not sinned either: the souls of the deceased were with God, the corpses profane husks.”

telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3313711/Unpalatable-but-true-cannibalism-was-routine.html

Not exactly a good Catholic ethic towards the bodies of those who have gone before us. I can’t find the original Vatican document to find the original wording though. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it’s never been put up on the Vatican’s website.
 
bamaster47 said:
I’ve been thinking a lot about morality lately. Not just sexual morality, but the absolutism vs. relativism conflict and morality as a whole. As I was doing this, I was thinking about these extenuating circumstances wherein an action, normally viewed as immoral, might be justified.

The examples of this that I came up with are the obvious ones (to me, anyway), such as killing in self defense or just wars. My question is, what are some other examples of these exceptions? My curiosity in this field has been sparked so I figured I’d ask.

I did have one situation in particular that I wanted to ask about, though. I’m sure this question has been asked before, but what is to be thought of stealing in a dire situation, such as to feed a starving family?

Please give any examples you can think of. 🙂
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Your two examples are not in themselves immoral. I can’t think of anything truly immoral in itself which is ‘justified.’
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
Your two examples are not in themselves immoral. I can’t think of anything truly immoral in itself which is ‘justified.’
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Yes, passus pointed that out for me earlier. It had slipped my mind that all murder is killing but not all killing is murder. Thanks though. 🙂
 
It is an interesting question, but I can’t think of an example.
 
I think a lot of activities that are violations of civil law would fall into this category. For example, it is immoral to drive faster than the legal speed limit. But if you have someone in your car that needs emergency medical attention, it would not be immoral to drive as fast as you safely can.

Another example, would be breaking and entering. Generally, this is illegal and immoral. But if you are in the woods during a blizzard and break into a cabin to get shelter from the storm, I wouldn’t say that was immoral.
 
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