Consider the following case taken from William Styron’s novel Sophie’s Choice. Sophie and her two children, her seven-year-old daughter, Eva, and her nine-year-old son, arrive at a Nazi concentration camp. An SS officer approaches her and tells her that one of her children will be allowed to live and one will be killed. But it is Sophie who must choose which child will be killed. If she refuses to choose then they will both be killed. Sophie recognizes that she cannot save both her children. What should Sophie do according to Kant (Using the Formula of Universal Law and Formula of Humanity)?
I have often seen people giving preference to baby boy over baby girl being born in may communities as they feel that he would carry their legacy to the next generation. If Sophie had to choose between the two kids, i believe she would also do the same and allow her boy to live so that he can carry forward their legacy. Also any way of analyzing this situation is by the fact that the camp will have a mixed species of men. Some of them may not even respect women, so may be she fears that if her daughter survives, they may tend to ill treat her, harass her and never let her be the same in life. So if that is to be considered, i believe the situation will be very hard for the people.
Consider the following case taken from William Styron’s novel Sophie’s Choice. Sophie and her two children,...