Very nearly everyone agrees that there is a meaningful difference between action and inaction?
Alice is trying to decide whether to give Bob $10.
Claire is trying to decide whether to steal $10 from Bob.
If you refuse to acknowledge a difference between action and inaction, you can claim that both of these scenarios represent ‘choosing whether $10 should end up in Bob’s pocket or in your own’, and therefore that these two situations are the same, and therefore that Alice’s obligation to give Bob $10 is exactly as strong as Claire’s obligation to not steal $10 from him.
Outside of the deep end of Peter-Singer-style altruism, though, I don’t think many people believe that.
Getting back to the example about an old man collapsing in a bank lobby, let’s compare three alternative types of actions:
Helping
Doing nothing
Harming an old man on purpose
Claiming that there is no meaningful difference between action and inaction would imply that doing nothing to help the old man is equivalent to harming an old man. This is indeed a fairly extreme position, and I agree with you that it is rejected by nearly everyone. In this very real case, the bystanders were fined by the German justice system for not helping, but they were not put in jail, as would have been the case for harming an old man (at least on purpose). So the German justice system agrees with you on this point.
But that’s not really the question of duty to rescue. The question is not about the equivalence of doing nothing and harming an old man, it’s about the equivalence between helping and doing nothing. In this case, one would be fined for doing nothing, but wouldn’t be fined for calling an ambulance.
Without the duty to rescue, one wont be fined, or otherwise punished, for doing nothing. This makes doing nothing a safe choice (at least in term of legal consequences).
Very nearly everyone agrees that there is a meaningful difference between action and inaction?
Alice is trying to decide whether to give Bob $10.
Claire is trying to decide whether to steal $10 from Bob.
If you refuse to acknowledge a difference between action and inaction, you can claim that both of these scenarios represent ‘choosing whether $10 should end up in Bob’s pocket or in your own’, and therefore that these two situations are the same, and therefore that Alice’s obligation to give Bob $10 is exactly as strong as Claire’s obligation to not steal $10 from him.
Outside of the deep end of Peter-Singer-style altruism, though, I don’t think many people believe that.
I think you are missing the point.
Getting back to the example about an old man collapsing in a bank lobby, let’s compare three alternative types of actions:
Helping
Doing nothing
Harming an old man on purpose
Claiming that there is no meaningful difference between action and inaction would imply that doing nothing to help the old man is equivalent to harming an old man. This is indeed a fairly extreme position, and I agree with you that it is rejected by nearly everyone. In this very real case, the bystanders were fined by the German justice system for not helping, but they were not put in jail, as would have been the case for harming an old man (at least on purpose). So the German justice system agrees with you on this point.
But that’s not really the question of duty to rescue. The question is not about the equivalence of doing nothing and harming an old man, it’s about the equivalence between helping and doing nothing. In this case, one would be fined for doing nothing, but wouldn’t be fined for calling an ambulance.
Without the duty to rescue, one wont be fined, or otherwise punished, for doing nothing. This makes doing nothing a safe choice (at least in term of legal consequences).