A distant relative you barely knew dies and leaves you £500,000. Then you discover they acquired this wealth through something you consider deeply unethical — not illegal, but something that caused genuine harm to others. The money is legally yours. The harm is historical and can't be undone. Accepting doesn't benefit the wrongdoer. Would you keep it?
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Question

A distant relative you barely knew dies and leaves you £500,000. Then you discover they acquired this wealth through something you consider deeply unethical — not illegal, but something that caused genuine harm to others. The money is legally yours. The harm is historical and can't be undone. Accepting doesn't benefit the wrongdoer. Would you keep it?

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Accepted Answer

54% chose "Keep it — the harm is done; good use redeems it" and 46% chose "Donate or refuse it — I can't benefit from that". This dilemma is lived in the real world by descendants of colonists, slaveholders, and industrialists whose wealth shaped their families. Philosophers distinguish between causal responsibility and beneficiary responsibility — you didn't cause the harm, but you benefit from it. The case for keeping and redirecting the money rests on consequentialism: it produces more good in your hands than dissolved into nothing. The case for refusing rests on integrity: some money carries a moral taint that you don't want to acquire.

The inheritance with a history

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