Imagine that there are three residents of Austin, and that each of them has an elderly grandmother who also lives in town. Each of the grandchildren faithfully visits his or her grandmother for three hours each and every Saturday morning. Each grandchild helps to clean up, get groceries and medicines, make small repairs, and anything else their grandmother needs. But, the grandchildren have different motivations for the Saturday visits.

Ann visits her grandmother because she loves her. They have had a great relationship all Ann's life, and Ann is happy to go and help her grandmother.

Ben does not have a particularly good relationship with his grandmother. In point of fact, he has never gotten along particularly well with her. But Ben's family expects his to help his grandmother, because no one else in the family lives remotely close to Austin. To avoid future conflicts with his family, Ben gets out of bed and heads over to his grandmother's house every week.

Carol also does not have a good relationship with her grandmother - the two have never really connected. But unlike Ben, Carol's family gives her no trouble if she does not help her grandmother. Carol is motivated to visit on Saturdays purely out of a sense of obligation. If she were asked to put it into words, Carol would probably say something like, "Look, she's my grandmother. It's my duty to check in with her, even if I'd rather do something else."

Discussion Questions

2. Utilitarian thinkers might say that the actions of the three grandchildren are equivalent, because each does the same amount of good and offers the same level of assistance to his or her grandmother. Do you agree with that assessment? Are these equivalent actions?
4. Deontological thinkers might label Carol's actions the best, because she acts out of a sense of duty. If you believe that one grandchild's actions are better than the others, do you agree that Carol's are best, or do you have a different favorite? Why?
6. Apply the idea of the moral minimum to the scenario.