The Trolley Dilemma is a thought experiment where there is a runaway train and it is heading down the tracks towards five workers you cannot directly do anything to stop the train, but you happen to be standing by a lever that will switch the tracks, only problem is there one man on the other track. And by pulling the lever you will kill him only instead, so you kill one as an alternative to killing five. The other scenario is, imagine you are standing on a bridge seeing all of this happen and you by chance notice a very fat man standing on the bridge with you, he is leaning over the edge and you know that if you…
Simply put, Utilitarianism states that one should act on what would bring the greatest happiness or benefit to the greatest amount of people. Therefore, a utilitarian would agree to push two heaviest passengers overboard to save the six. While it violates our morals to kill two people, a utilitarian would explain their choice with the integrity objection. In the situation of the lifeboat, one is faced with a situation that does not present a perfect outcome. However, a utilitarian would say that we must choose the best outcome, which in the view of a utilitarian, would be throwing the two passengers overboard to save the other six.…
A utilitarian would approach an ethical dilemma by identifying the alternative actions and their harms and/or benefits for all stakeholders.…
A utilitarian should evaluate the situation based on long term as well as short term consequences. Although the ford management knew the design flaws; still the design was approved which shows that they ignored the greatest overall utility benefit. The management had just aimed to design a car which could be sold at competitive prices by keeping lowest costs regardless of the safety of the passengers.…
The reasoning that has allowed me to come up with this decision is based upon my own personal values that I have which is if there is something that I can do some way shape or form that will allow me to make a difference I am willing to do it especially if it is for the greater good to be helpful to someone else. By me just sitting by and watching the trolley car and letting them all die would be something that I would physically be able to do because of the heart that I have. Though I am not a killer I would still weigh the options between the two and come up with one person dying is better the all 5.…
Utilitarianism is the ethical theory that believes one should do what will promote the greatest utility for as many people as possible, that utility is often considered to be happiness or pleasure. There are different kinds of utilitarian views; hedonistic, preference, rule, and act to name a few, but they all have the same main objective. This theory does indeed seem good at first, but it is flawed. The case of the lonesome stranger challenges utilitarianism by bringing up issues of justice in different kinds of utilitarianism. The lonesome stranger is a persuasive argument to utilitarianism, showing problems pertaining to justice.…
In this essay will be discussing the trolley problem devised by Philippa Foot, and exploring different aspects of utilitarianism in relation the situation. The trolley problem is as follows ‘A train is hurtling down a track and you see that it is going to hit a group of 5 people and will certainly kill them all. However you are standing on a bridge over the line next to a fat man and you are sure that if you pushed him onto the line his bulk would be sufficient to stop the train before it hit the group of people, would you push him?’.…
The common story that is associated with utilitarianism is that of R vs Dudley and Stephens. This case was of a sick orphan that was eaten by his shipmates in order to save their lives. The moral question was…
The Utilitarianism theory supports individual capability to foresee the costs of an act. A Utilitarian considers the decision of giving the best profit to a large number of people; this is known to be ethically correct.…
“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin stays aligned with the ideals of Utilitarianism as described by John Stuart Mill but disagrees with Peter Singer’s view of Utilitarianism. In Mill’s view, the happiness of the many outweighs the happiness of the few. This, known as the Greatest Happiness Principle, can be represented as a railroad, with a train coming to a fork in the road and a person has a choice to either let it hit five people or one person. Mill’s ideal for Utilitarianism is that the person in control of the lever will let it hit the one person since it would cause less misery than hitting the five people. This principle is seen in Le Guin’s short story when the Omelas people justify trapping a child as “If the child were brought up into the sunlight… in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and…
Suppose you are the driver of a trolley car hurtling down the track at sixty miles an hour. Up ahead you see ve workers standing on the track, tools in hand. You try to stop, but you can’t. The brakes don’t work.You feel desperate, because you know that if you crash into these ve workers, they will all die. (Let’s assume you know that for sure.) Suddenly, you notice a side track, o to the right. There is a worker on that track, too, but only one.You realize that you can turn the trolley car onto the side track, killing the one worker, but sparing the ve. What should you do? Most people would say, “Turn! Tragic though it is to kill one innocent person, it’s even worse to kill ve.” Sacri cing one life in order to save ve does seem the right thing to do. Now consider another version of the trolley story. This time, you are not the driver but an onlooker, standing on a bridge overlooking the track. (This time, there is no side track.) Down the track comes a trolley, and at the end of the track are ve workers. Once again, the brakes don’t work. The trolley is about to crash into the ve workers. You feel helpless to avert this disaster—until you notice, standing next to you on the bridge, a very heavy man. You could push him o the…
If you were truly a follower of Utilitarianism, you would not hesitate to push the man. The lives of the five people you saved greatly outweigh the life of the large man and the misery of the consequences you may face. Utilitarianism is very difficult to argue against because it is so simple. Nearly everyone can agree that we should seek wellbeing.…
Getting to choose who lives and who dies? This is the reason I fell in love with the Trolley Theory during one of our lectures. The Trolley Theory is an ethical experiment commonly discussed and analyzed by philosophers. In the experiment, you must decide if having a single person die in an accident is better, or worse than having five people die in an accident. In this paper I will talk about the Trolley Theory as well as the “Fat Man” theory which is based off on the Trolley Theory.…
In reading the Ethics problem box regarding the Trolley Problem I will attempt to answer the question of would I throw the switch. I have had the chance to research different profiles to try and answer this question.…
In A Critique of Utilitarianism, Bernard Williams argues that when following a Utilitarian approach for moral dilemmas, Utilitarianism might have us sacrifice or modify our moral integrity. Williams explains this argument with a hypothetical execution situation with protagonist Jim. Jim, who is a botanical expeditionary, accidentally wanders in the central square of a small South American town. There, he finds twenty Indians tied up in a row, with several armed soldiers standing in front of them. The captain in charge of the soldiers, Pedro, is ready to execute the Indians for protesting against the government. However, Jim is a foreigner and is honored by the captain. Because of this special occasion, Pedro gives Jim the option to shoot and kill one Indian. If Jim accepts, the other nineteen Indians can go free, if not, Pedro will shoot all twenty like intended. The Indians beg Jim to accept the offer and shoot one of them. Now, Jim is faced with a difficult decision whether to shoot one Indian or let Pedro shoot all of them. What should Jim do? It is not sure what the right course of action is, but four different theories could help him decide. These theories are: the Divine Command theory, Cultural Relativism, Kantianism, and Utilitarianism. In this paper, I will present these four theories and their suggestions for Jim’s right course of action, the faults in these theories, and how Utilitarianism is morally correct in this case.…