The Trolley Car And Morality - 915 Words

Trolley-Cars and Morality Thanks for your participation yesterday in the trolley-car thought experiment. I know the experiment required you to suspend disbelief and imagine a set of conditions that would not likely apply in the â€Å"real† world, but the assumptions built into the thought experiment serve a purpose; they are designed to bring to the surface common moral intuitions that many of us have, and eliciting these moral intuitions helps shed light on Socrates’ method of argument. In the first scenario, an overwhelming majority of us felt that turning onto the sidetrack and killing the one person to spare the five was undoubtedly the right thing to do; however, when the circumstances changed, and we were faced with having to push someone off of the train bridge to abide by the same principle of action—it is better to save more lives than fewer—an overwhelming majority of us were in favor of choosing not to act (choosing inaction) and allowing the five persons working on the track to perish. Although both scenarios entailed choice—either to stay the course or turn onto the side track in scenario one and either to push the man off of the overpass or to refrain and allow the train to proceed—most of us felt like there was something fundamentally different about scenario two; it just did not seem right to push the gentleman off of the train bridge because we were directly involved in the act of pushing him off of the bridge and ending his life. Something seemedShow MoreRelatedThe Trolley Problem Of The Monist1624 Words   |  7 PagesJudith Jarvis Thomson presents an ethical dilemma entitled The Trolley Problem in The Monist. The problem describes a situation in which a trolley car is moving quickly and out of control on a train track towards five people who are tied to the tracks; you have the power to pull a lever, change the direction of the trolley car and save those five people – at the expense of the life of one person who is on the track the car was diverted to (Thomson 1397). The choice to be made is not just aboutRead MoreSelf Driving Cars : Is It All Over The World?886 Words   |  4 PagesSelf-driving cars contain groundbreaking components such as sensors for motion detection, interiors without brakes or pedals, electric batteries, a pre-programed database of how to respond to situations, along with many other features. 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You pause to catch your breath and in the silence, you hear a scream. Down on the tracks below, you see multiple figures struggling, fighting against the bonds to get themselves free. You take a step forward, intent on freeing the people only to pause again as you hear the hornRead MoreVirtual War : Kosovo And Beyond1907 Words   |  8 PagesMichael Ignatieff presents the audience with the potential moral implications of a riskless war, or rather a â€Å"virtual war.† In what follows, I will argue that Ignatieff’s idea of a virtual war is outdated in the sense that, in modern warfare, the morality of a virtual war is circumstantial. Although his argument is outdated, it is still relevant, and I will defend his premise that the ability to fight at a di stance does create a moral problem in modern warfare.    In the post-Vietnam era, the AmericanRead MoreMichael Sandel Video Summary and Analysis Essay2728 Words   |  11 Pagesgreatest good for the greatest number. Both episodes are broken into two parts. Episode 1 is broken into part one: the moral side of murder. He dives into the possibility of having to choose whether five workers should die by hitting them with a trolley car, whose brakes do not work, or steering and choosing to hit and kill one worker on the sidetrack. The second part is titled The Case for Cannibalism. In this part, Sandel explores the outcome of the trial case of the Queen vs Dudley and StephensRead MoreThe Ancient Greek Civilization1781 Words   |  8 Pagesduring the height of the Ancient Greek civilization, is often considered the birthplace of Western Philosophy. During this time period, one of the most famous Greek philosophers, Plato, engaged in debates with other philosophers about the nature of morality. His debates with the Sophists became heated on the matter of relativism and will be the focus of this paper. Relativism promotes the idea that each society or individual determines what is moral or â€Å"right† for that individual or society. To relativistsRead MoreThe Morality Behind Driving Essay Essay2032 Words   |  9 PagesThe Morality Behind Driving In the past several years, technology has become so ubiquitous that it can now be found in parts of our lives that we once believed it would, and could, never play a part in. While the growing presence of technology in our day to day lives suggests a high compatibility, in certain instances, our lives, specifically our ideologies and moral beliefs, seem to conflict with technology. The development of the autonomous car and the ethical and moral dilemmas that can ariseRead MoreProject Av Based On Ethical Issues1850 Words   |  8 PagesSay you’re in the market for a new car and are given the choice between a standard vehicle, or an autonomous vehicle (AV). 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