This is a moral and ethics question. The first stage is to say you're the train driver and the breaks are not working. The track divides in front of you and you have the decision to go left which has 5 people working on the track and kill them all or to the right where there is only 1 person working on the track. Which route do you take?
Most people agree that it is ethically correct to go down the right route and kill 1 man.
The same dilemna can be formulated as the OP did. But in this case you have to act in pushing one man onto the track and saving 5 others.
Less people think it is ethically correct to push the 1 man and save the others. It's interesting to consider why one is more ethically correct than the other, when basically its the same dilemna.
yeah, i agree, the fact that they just pushed someone in the path of a train would haunt them with guilt, and possibly a jail sentence, even if it saved the lives of 5 others.
I doubt the courts would see that you pushing the fat man on the tracks saved 5 others. they may acknowledge it, but to the law, its murder.
now, if the fat man had a gun, with the intent to shoot you, then its self defense.
Who's life would you rather save?
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This is a moral and ethics question. The first stage is to say you're the train driver and the breaks are not working. The track divides in front of you and you have the decision to go left which has 5 people working on the track and kill them all or to the right where there is only 1 person working on the track. Which route do you take?
Most people agree that it is ethically correct to go down the right route and kill 1 man.
The same dilemna can be formulated as the OP did. But in this case you have to act in pushing one man onto the track and saving 5 others.
Less people think it is ethically correct to push the 1 man and save the others. It's interesting to consider why one is more ethically correct than the other, when basically its the same dilemna.
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Legion
10 years ago
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yeah, i agree, the fact that they just pushed someone in the path of a train would haunt them with guilt, and possibly a jail sentence, even if it saved the lives of 5 others.
I doubt the courts would see that you pushing the fat man on the tracks saved 5 others. they may acknowledge it, but to the law, its murder.
now, if the fat man had a gun, with the intent to shoot you, then its self defense.