This is an older ethics question (it has been passed around the net in a shorter misleading way). However, this is written in a form that is more detailed and genuine. It’s a little long but worth the read.

fun ethics exercise and answers

a fun test to assess your ethical judgement

Please note that this item contains misleading and exaggerated information (ack Mick and Lynn for assistance), so use it with care, and ensure people are warned after answering the puzzle that certain ‘facts’ are historically unreliable. The item appears here – and can arguably be used for ethical learning and demonstration – because it is a popular and accessible puzzle, and despite the exaggerations the principle lesson remains valid, i.e., that we all too quickly make quick ethical judgments based on our own conditioned ideas of what is good and bad. Quick judgements and subjective criteria rarely give reliable assessment of actual goodness and potential.

Two ethical questions:

Question 1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had eight children already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?

Remember your honest answer and go to question 2.

Question 2: It is time to elect the world leader, and yours is the deciding vote. Here are the facts about the three leading candidates:

• Candidate A: He associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologers. He’s had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks up to ten Martinis a day.
• Candidate B: He was ejected from office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a large amounts of whisky every evening.
• Candidate C: He is a decorated war hero. He’s a vegetarian, doesn’t smoke, drinks an occasional beer and hasn’t had any extra-marital affairs.

Which of these candidates would be your choice? Decide, then see the answer below.

fun ethics puzzle answer

Candidate A is Franklin D Roosevelt, Candidate B is Winston Churchill, and Candidate C is Adolph Hitler.

And by the way the answer to the abortion question… If you said yes, you just killed Beethoven.

Please note: This ethics puzzle became popular during the 1990′s when it was widely circulated in various formats by email. Certain historical facts in the puzzle however are not correct, notably relating to Beethoven’s background, which while humble was not nearly so disadvantaged as the puzzle suggests. Similarly the negative aspects of Roosevelt and Churchill are exaggerated, and Hitler would have found it difficult to conduct any extra-marital affairs given that he was first married in a bunker shortly before his death.

The points made by the puzzle are nevertheless valid, which is why it remains on this page.

We all tend to make ethical judgements based on conditioned and subjective views of what is right and proper.

And we all tend to make snap decisions in assessing whether something is right or wrong, before seeking the full story.

The need to examine what really lies beneath the surface when judging good and bad will become increasingly important as ethics and ethical issues become genuinely popular mainstream concerns.

Powerful organisations, politicians and the media are very clever at ‘spinning’ and distorting information so as to control public opinion.

Therefore modern ethical issues such as corruption, environmental action, humanitarianism, the excesses of globalisation, etc., cannot be judged on face-value and what the political and corporate leaders say, nor even by any measurement and survey instruments over which they have influence.

Judging important matters such as ethics on the surface is no basis for proper judgement, moreover we make it very easy for those who seek to deceive and exploit us when we fail to question and examine things properly before deciding.

Transparency, scrutiny, and a public demand for truth are the drivers for real ethical accountability.

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