Jex VS The Gunslinger

[Peri-Peri]

So if you were put in the Doctor's shoes and faced with this dilemma, whose side would you have taken?

[Peri-Peri]

It's definitely not clear cut and I think the Doctor was in a sort of impossible situation, but if I was in that situation I think I would have handed him over. I have two reasons for this. Firstly, he went through that period half way through the episode where suddenly he was giving evil glances and seeming like he didn't care very much. He was willing to shoot Amy to save himself and while it didn't play out that way there would be no way of knowing that. The second reason sort of follows on from that in that it would have saved the life of 80 other people. Seems like the lesser of two evils to me.

[ardalyon]

Depends whether you take a consequentialist or deontological view of ethics. Giving Jex over would have probably had the better consequences given that the Gunslinger was threatening to kill everyone and could have done so quite easily, meaning that Jex would end up dead anyway without anybody being able to do anything about it. On the other hand, you might take the view that this is the kind of thing that you simply must not do whatever the consequences, that you must not take another life or allow by an act of omission another life to be taken. Given that Jex himself admitted to what he had done (so guilt was not an issue) and even conceded that the Gunslinger wanting to kill him was justified (so justice was not an issue) I think I would have given him over as well.

[Nyki]

The one thing I can be sure of is that, whichever way I chose, I'd have spent the rest of my life wondering if I'd done the right thing.  Well, assuming I had a life to spend, of course.

[Blazin Goliath]

I wouldn't have handed him over unless there was absolutely no other option. If it came down to it, I would have started handing him over and done my best to shoot the Gunslinger. I could live with taking the life of someone threatening a town, but not handing a man over to his death.

[ardalyon]

I wonder whether all generations of the Doctor would have acted in the same way?

[Exterminate]

I think it has to come down to the 1/100 theory. It's not necessarily right to hand over Jex, but it's him or the whole town. I'd hate to have to make the choice but forced with it I would hand him over.

[Exterminate]

I like this topic. I like that the episode didn't make it clear cut and easy to choose who was bad or good, right or wrong. It's far better to raise questions than be force fed answers to these sort of dilemmas

[Kovarians-Eye-Patch]

I'd have tossed him over, without question. In the beginning I may have had reservations but when he started doing to evil stares and his demenour changed I lost a lot of sympathy for the character.

[Blazin Goliath]

I like this topic. I like that the episode didn't make it clear cut and easy to choose who was bad or good, right or wrong. It's far better to raise questions than be force fed answers to these sort of dilemmas

I completely agree here. It leaves you to interpret episodes how you will, and I've always enjoyed these sort of discussions.

[The Cyber Mistress]

I think the Gunslinger was doing exactly what he was programmed to do, and that's fight threats which is essentially what Jex became. He also wanted justice. They went a long way to showing that he wasn't just a random killing machine. I'd have handed Jex over.

[Tardis-Console]

Until he offed himself there was nothing about Jex that seemed like he was sorry for what he had done. I found him really quite unlikeable

[Tardis-Console]

And I would have handed him over