The Trolley Problem

[Music] a runaway train is heading towards five workers on a railway line there's no way of warning them but you're standing near a lever that operates some points switch the points and the train goes down a Spur trouble is there's another worker on that bit of track too but it's one fatality instead of five should you do that many people think the right thing to do would be to switch the points to sacrifice one to save five since that produces the best outcome possible now imagine the train heading for the workers again this time it

can only be stopped by pushing a very large man off a bridge his great bulk would stop the train but he'd die should you do that most people say no but why not both thought experiments are cases of sacrificing one to save five what the trolley problem examines is whether moral decisions are simply about outcomes or about the manner in which you achieve them some utilitarians argue that the two cases are not importantly different from each other both have similar consequences and consequences are all that really matter in each case one person dies and five

are saved the best option in each harrowing situation but lots of people say they would switch the points but they wouldn't push the man off the bridge are they simply inconsistent or are they on to something [Music]