John and Marsha are both married to other people and the parents of several children, and they are having an adulterous affair. One night, when they are meeting secretly, they witness a murder. They agree that they cannot risk reporting it without exposing their affair. The next day the body is found and within a week a suspect is apprehended and charged with first-degree murder. When John and Marsha see his picture in the newspaper, they realize that he is not the murderer. They meet again, discuss their dilemma, and decide that despite the new, dreadful development, they will not step forward as witnesses.
Tell what ethical philosophy the John and Marsha are using, if any.
Now, use your ethical philosophy statement to analyze the situation. Explain how, using your philosophy, you would have solved this situation either the same way as the characters in the situation did, or differently.
My ethical statement is "do to others only as you would want done to you."
The question surrounds the issue of coming clean about the murderer, not whether you would have engaged in the affair or not. (Thus, you cannot say, "I would never have the affair" as your solution. Pretend you are an advisor to the two of them--not that you are the two of them. What would YOU tell them to do at this point?) Why?