Moral quandary?

[davywavy]

No correct answers, I'm just curious as to how you lot think.


Whilst out walking one day, I came to a bridge that lead to the land of the goblins. I crossed the bridge, and found on the other side a gallows, a cage with a man in it, and three goblins dressed as judges.
"Halt!" cried one of the goblins. "We judge those who enter this land. If you tell us truthfully why you have come here, you may enter freely and unharmed. If you lie, then we will hang you!"
I told the Goblins I had visited from curiousity, and they accepted the truth and let me into the kingdom.
Then I spoke to them about the man in the cage.
"He is a challenging case." They said. "He came to us and told us that he had come here for us to hang him. If he speaks the truth, the law says we must let him go unharmed, and if he lies we must hang him. He said we would hang him, but we cannot, because if we do, he will have been telling the truth, and we should let him go free. If we let him go, he would have been lying, and so we should have hung him instead. We are keeping him in the cage until we decide what to do. Can you make any suggestions?"

I thought for a while, and made a suggestion, and told the Goblins my reasoning. The agreed with me, and the justice was served.

What would you suggest the goblins do with their prisoner, and what is your reasoning for your suggestion?

Comments

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Exile him, one way or another the guys a headf**k and you really don't want people like that in your land dead or alive.

or....

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

From an earlier theme in a previous post; Hang you, for coming up with the problem in the first place.

Re: or....

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Oi!

[dreamking00.livejournal.com]

They should first set him free. The man's stated task will go unfulfilled, and he will cross back across the bridge disappointed but unhanged. If he attempts to proceed further into the land of the goblins, he obviously has other business, and was lying, at which time he may be properly hanged.

Erm?

[blue-cat.livejournal.com]

I am afraid mine was... not fluffy.

They should throw him off the bridge - that way he was proved a liar as he wasn't hung, and the death sentance is carried out.

[winterthing.livejournal.com]

Hang him up by the ankles so he is clearly being hung and then let him go unharmed as the law suggests.

I'm clearly the nice one here...

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

Surely it's the mans intent when he arrives that determines if he is telling the truth or not, not what the goblins do for him, so we have too cases.

(a) he was being facetious, in which case he was lying, and the goblins can quite happily hang him

(b) It's a genuine suicide attempt, in which case he was telling the truth, in which case the goblins are free to let him go. He can always leave, come back, and say he's there to admire the scenery the next time round if he's really determined.

If you operate according to different principles, the goblins have to know the future. "I am coming to find and marry my true love." may be a true statement of intent, but whether it turns out to be an actual truth or not is impossible for the goblins to assess. Therefore I posit that they work based on whether the person believes what they say to be their true reason for visiting or not, rather than the objective truth of the person's statement.

[quisalan.livejournal.com]

I'm with Sally - at no point does it say in your rules "hanged with a rope about the neck until dead."

So they could partially hang him, or hang him by the wrists, and let him go unharmed afterwards (there are ways).

There's something nagging at my head about this and I can't place it. I know I'm missing something...

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I assume that you've read Don Quixote at some point and you vaguely remember the scene...

[eddyfate.livejournal.com]

Sancho. Inn. Beat like a governmnet mule.

[jonnyargles.livejournal.com]

Hang him yourself.

The goblins don't hang him, so he's a liar, and he stops taking up that valuable real estate, as well as getting what's coming to him for being such a pranny about it all.

[(Anonymous)]

let him go free for he has committed no crime than hang him with his concent as (from what i can see) there is no reason for the state not to assist him with that.

of cause anything they do is fine by me as their gobbos and therefore great

Solution

[ex-grimjim.livejournal.com]

Beat the goblins within an inch of their lives and send them packing.
Their authority derives from nowhere and the death sentence for lying is even harsher than "Eye for an eye" and morally repugnant.
Free the man so he can't abdicate the responsibility of suicide.
Confiscate the hanging equipment so no more innocents can be killed.
It's clear that the goblins, since unable to come up with their own solutions, and asking a mere layman are incompetent to hold the position of judges, that and their sentencing policy.

Either that or get the goblins to free the man and hang themselves, since he can only be guilty of lying while they are guilty of murder, a far graver crime far more deserving of punishment.