Please apply the principles of Utilitarianism to the following case:
Jim, a botanist traveling in South America, comes upon a public execution in a small town. A military captain has lined up twenty Indians. He explains to Jim that they have been chosen at random from the local population, which has recently been protesting against the government. The captain offers Jim a guests privilege. If Jim wishes, he can select one of the Indians and shoot him himself and then the other nineteen will go free. Otherwise, the execution by the captains henchman, Pedro, will go ahead as planned.
What would a Utilitarian do in this case? What would you do and why?
Basic principles that may be applied:
human actions are motivated by pleasure and pain
moral worth of an action is determined by its contribution to overall utility (aka happiness or pleasure)
stance: a utilitarian would choose to shoot one person in order to save 19 others because it is a good outcome for the majority of the people involved