Originally posted by Moo Moo the Ner Cow My only argument is that saving a baby (assuming that if you went for the baby first you would succeed or something) potentially creates a better good than saving the puppy. The puppy would only grow to be a dog, and while dogs potentially can save lives and be helpful and aide the blind and all sorts of marvellous things, a human can potentially do more. So the 'potential greater good' argument is my stance.
That a human potentially can do more good than a dog might be true. But a human can also potentially do more evil than a dog, so saving the human could cause more good (than the puppy-saving scenario) in this world as well as it could cause more evil (see previous parenthesis). Which at least to me brings it back to square one again. I personally think it's each person's choice to do what they feel is right in that situation, I don't have any rock-hard opinion on it.