What is your answer?

In Hare's two-debter parable, A owes money to B, B owes money to C, and the cases are otherwise identical. The law lets creditors put their debtors into prison. So if B says "I ought to put A in prison for debt," then he has to hold "C ought to put me in prison for debt."

A problem with this parable is that

    { 1 } - rarely in real life do we find such symmetry.
    { 2 } - it might seem to appeal to B's fear that C will treat him as he treats A.
    { 3 } - both of the above.

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1 is wrong. Please try again.

In Hare's two-debter parable, A owes money to B, B owes money to C, and the cases are otherwise identical. The law lets creditors put their debtors into prison. So if B says "I ought to put A in prison for debt," then he has to hold "C ought to put me in prison for debt."

A problem with this parable is that

But we can always IMAGINE a reversed situation -- even if life doesn't provide us with one. This moves us to the one-debtor parable.

But this isn't the only problem.

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2 is wrong. Please try again.

In Hare's two-debter parable, A owes money to B, B owes money to C, and the cases are otherwise identical. The law lets creditors put their debtors into prison. So if B says "I ought to put A in prison for debt," then he has to hold "C ought to put me in prison for debt."

A problem with this parable is that

    { 1 } - rarely in real life do we find such symmetry.
    { 2 } - it might seem to appeal to B's fear that C will treat him as he treats A.
    { 3 } - both of the above.

Hare's argument appeals to consistency, not to fear. This comes through more clearly in the one-debtor parable.

But this isn't the only problem.

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3 is correct!

In Hare's two-debter parable, A owes money to B, B owes money to C, and the cases are otherwise identical. The law lets creditors put their debtors into prison. So if B says "I ought to put A in prison for debt," then he has to hold "C ought to put me in prison for debt."

A problem with this parable is that

    { 1 } - rarely in real life do we find such symmetry.
    { 2 } - it might seem to appeal to B's fear that C will treat him as he treats A.
    { 3 } - both of the above.

For these reasons, Hare switches to the one-debtor parable. Here, being tempted to put A in prision for debt, you IMAGINE being in A's exact place. You ask how you desire that you be treated in this situation.

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