Supposedly, according to some ethicists, the only ethical decision is to make no decision at all. If you choose to kill the one person to spare the five, you're directly responsible for that one person's death, and you were the one to make the decision to kill them (versus it being "fated", I guess!).
I'm with you, though: I would be too paralyzed with indecision to do anything, personally.
Yeah, a really tough choice. But of course, I feel enough guilt about things that I would still take those five on my conscience anyway! Thanks for stopping by!
Yeah, I'm kinda in the same boat. If it wasn't for the prompt (and me not thinking of any other way to interpret it personally), I would have been happy never contemplating it! :-)
This is a good collection of thoughts and your thought process regarding this "thought game" prompt. The myriad of complexities which can be assigned to it make it nearly endless in approaches and justifications.
I had to look it up, too. I'd heard of the idea before, but never the phrase "Trolley problem".
I'm with you. I'd likely be too paralyzed by fear to do anything. If I flipped the switch, I would be directly responsible for the death of that one person. If I did nothing, then the trolley is just going to continue on its path where it was "supposed" to go. I don't think that's a decision I would be able to make.
Also, shout out to Torchwood. That's a seriously underappreciated show. ♥
After looking up this prompt my immediate thought was what if the one person was Hitler, than I guess the decision is obvious, but of course nothing is ever that easy. This is a difficult thing to sort through.
Yeah, you'd like to think it would be easy. But then consequences and ideals and stuff on your conscience... I'm hoping I never have to make a decision like that! Thanks for stopping by!
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I'm with you, though: I would be too paralyzed with indecision to do anything, personally.
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I'm with you. I'd likely be too paralyzed by fear to do anything. If I flipped the switch, I would be directly responsible for the death of that one person. If I did nothing, then the trolley is just going to continue on its path where it was "supposed" to go. I don't think that's a decision I would be able to make.
Also, shout out to Torchwood. That's a seriously underappreciated show. ♥
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