Can we add this as the default answer to all questions? It is both comprehensive and succinct.

They may try to get you to stay by making you feel guilty if their crisis is significant to them. So you should stick to these steps by Joe and don't fall for anything else.

Note that the professional thing to do is perform your job to the best of your ability until you leave (even after giving notice) and this may mean working on something you find objectionable (and it may be your reason for leaving !), but there is a big difference between leaving in a reasonable, professional manner and walking out and leaving your employer without a reasonable chance to make other arrangements.

@P.Hopkinson No, because then there wouldn't be any questions left for us answer

@StephenG: It depends on the nature of the moral objection. What if the company were doing something blatantly illegal? (Note that there's no evidence that that's what's happening here.)

@KeithThompson If they doing something illegal you consult the police if it's possibly criminal. They'll tell you what to do. Many places have whistleblower programs and agencies for that express purpose, which is another route. Illegal makes it a different ballgame entirely.

However much I agree with this response in principle, there's also something to be said about how European work culture is different from Japanese work culture. I'm not sure this is great advice in that context.

@StephenG: And I can imagine a company doing something so morally objectionable, but still legal, that I'd feel obligated not to support it.

Finding a new job is completely irrelevant to OP's dilemma. You're not required to find a new girlfriend before dumping the current one. -1

@Agent_L not required but substantially safer than just becoming unemployed.

@ecc You're disregarding the costs of staying in an environment that's harmful to you and the impediment to finding a new job by holding the old one. It's all cost-vs-benefit, like everything in life. There are no silver bullets and no useful blanket statements. For a person with a marketable skills and a very toxic work environment, the cost of damage taken when staying is exorbitant compared to the financial cost of "the worst 15 minutes of my life". One should be prepared for about 3 months break anyway, i's the "safety net" everybody is talking about but nobody has a clue on how to use it.

@Agent_L Romantic relationships and jobs are two different ballgames. If you indeed treat your partner the same way as your job, that's... quite sad. I actually would expect you to "get fired without notice" if you ever tell your partner that's how you see them.

@R.Schmitz A relationship is a relationship. They follow mostly same rules. By your own words: people do dump and get dumped without notice, just like people quit and get fired. OP has the exact same dilemma as in many romantic relationships: their empathy toward a partner in distress overpower their repulsion. Understanding your behaviour in one type of situation can help you understand your behaviour in a similar one. BTW: why get personal?

@R.Schmitz Snarky joke to paraphrase yours: Are you a programmer? Because I actually would expect you to get fired if your boss finds out that you can't recognize commonalities in two classes and extract them to a common base : )

@Agent_L By the same token, if you can't recognize the important differences... One difference, if you leave a personal relationship expecting to find another one and never actually find another one, you'll actually be just fine. If you leave a job expecting to find another one and can't, you're up the creek and no paddle. Another difference, it's actually easier to get a new job if you currently have a job. The same does not apply for spouses...

I'd go further and say that while you can be legally bound to a legal person (a company) , I don't see how you can be ethically or morally bound. That is reserved for actual persons.

@user3067860 Now you're just doing singe-shaming in job context. I actually know few people that do pretty well without a job. And it has exactly same psychological background as single-shaming: you're validating your life choices by bullying others into taking same ones. In my experience, it's much easier to find a job if you're not being bothered by another one. I've never had a recruitment process outside typical work hours.

@StianYttervik Dude, just read the question. The whole point is OP feeling ethically bound... And a company is people. Employees don't (usually) have feelings towards the company as a legal entity, but towards coworkers as a group, and that's what "company" is to a person that works there.

@RaphaelSchmitz Ah, you're stinging like a bee again :) It's not realistic to me. But it is ill wishing and seems out of place here. For internet fights, I choose other sites.

@Agent_L Well, using the same advice for professional and romantic relationships in this aspect is not realistic to the majority here either. (The general consensus is that you should have a signed contract in your hands before you leave an old employer. The general consensus for romantic relationships is the opposite.) If it's not realistic even for yourself, then I don't understand why would you downvote this answer based on that position.

I don't mean to personally attack you, but I can not agree with the reasoning as I'm currently understanding it.