Abstract
An exchange of correspondence with Charles Fried. Parfit's section begins: "I am puzzled. Consider
Case One: I could save either one stranger or five others. Both acts
would involve a heroic personal sacrifice. I choose, for no reason,
to save the one rather than the five.
Fried argues:
(i ) Since both acts would involve a heroic sacrifice, I could not be
criticized if I chose to do neither.
(2) If I could not be criticized for choosing to do neither, I cannot
be criticized for choosing to do one rather than the other.
Therefore
(3) When I choose to save the one rather than the five, my choice
cannot be criticized.
Fried rejects (3). Though my act is heroic, he concedes that my
choice is 'perverse' and 'morally deficient.'"