Besides, he says, you will have done your duty, and it is the stranger who is responsible for the murder and not you. But aren’t we responsible not only for what we do but also for what we knowingly...

Besides, he says, you will have done your duty, and it is the stranger who is responsible for the murder and not you. But aren’t we responsible not only for what we do but also for what we knowingly allow to happen? If your telling the truth about the location of your friend allows the murderer to find his victim, don’t you bear some responsibility for the death? Isn’t the preservation of life a higher and more weighty duty than telling the truth? Shouldn’t reasonable exceptions to moral rules be allowed, especially when those rules make it impossible to fulfill a higher duty?