Dicusstion (two short posts)

First watch the short video, The Trolley Problem. The video describes two cases. In the first case, the question is whether you should pull the switch in order to divert the trolley away from five people towards a single person instead. Whomever the trolley strikes will die. In the second case, the question is whether you should push a very large man

of
a bridge (who will die) in order to stop the trolley from striking those same five people.

What do you think–after everything that needs to be considered is properly taken into account–is the correct utilitarian judgment of the Trolley Problem and why? How might one object to the view that the proper course of action from a utilitarian point of view is both a) to pull the switch, and b) to push the large person off the bridge?

1- Please post first an answer to your group’s question

2- second post to another’s student’s post

other
student posts

1- In utilitarianism, the consequences are all that matter. In both cases, one person’s death saves five other

people which
means it doesn’t matter which option is chosen. Pulling the switch or pushing the large person off the bridge both conclude with saving more people than are being sacrificed. This thought process is troublesome for many because it brings up the act of passive vs.

active
killing, where many would rather pursue the passive act of killing. In the switch situation all you are doing is pulling a lever, you aren’t the one actually, physically killing the lone worker on the track. It’s a passive situation. In the bridge situation, you are the one killing the large man because you physically push him off the bridge and commit murder to save the other workers. It is an active situation.

2- Adding on to this idea, people might object to pushing someone off a bridge v.

switching
the train direction because you are directly causing someones death by pushing them where as switching the train is letting the person die. This

is focusing
on the actions instead of the consequences (even if you were focusing just on the consequences, using the equivalence

theory we
learned last unit killing v letting die should be treated equally).