Do the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many? Imagine that you witness a runaway trolley that is on a collision course with a brick wall. You happen to be in the exact right place at the right time and can throw a switch to divert the trolley to another set of rails. The only problem is that there’s a man standing on those rails, and there’s no time to warn him. Do you throw the switch and allow him to die, or stand by and watch the many passengers on the trolley die? What if there was no switch, but instead a man sufficiently fat enough to stop the trolley if you pushed him in front of it? Strangely enough, a surprising amount of people are okay with throwing the switch and simultaneously appalled at the idea of pushing the man, even though they amount to the same thing: the death of one human being through your actions. Humanity is so fascinated with this moral conundrum that it permeates almost every story we tell. Have a blessed Sunday !
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 20:46:17 +0000
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