#1 Thought experiment - "The Trolley Problem"

[Athene]

My answer in regards to the "Trolley Dilemma" has always remained the same; I would choose to do nothing.

I find it much more difficult to grapple with the idea of having a direct hand in an innocent person's death, than coping with the deaths of others through my 'inaction'. 

Come to whatever conclusion you like about my morality.

In the TV show, Law & Order, it is noted in a couple of their episodes in some locales but not all, 'depraved indifference' is a punishable offense.  As for the trolley example, Idunno.

L&O does tend to illuminate fine points of law, but even watching the show doesn't imbue this viewer with knowledge of what's best to do in a situation.


I was unaware of my own passivity in the early years of the AIDS crisis being something I would later find odious, but it did happen, and it happened after I read of Bill Kraus and his efforts early on, and unfortunately, even his early reaction wasn't enough to save himself.  Would my sum of 40 friends and acquaintances lost to HIV be any different if I had been more like Kraus and less like myself ??  

Idunno, but I do know it would be easier living with it if I had.

I wouldn't consider my response to be depraved indifference when the ONLY solution afforded to me would be to murder an innocent individual. I would hardly consider the decision to NOT kill a person who is of no threat to anyone, a failure to take 'reasonable' action.

Unless of course, offering human sacrifices is considered a reasonable action.