RE: Trolley Problem/Consistency in Ethics
January 24, 2018 at 11:43 am
(This post was last modified: January 24, 2018 at 11:44 am by vulcanlogician.)
(January 24, 2018 at 11:39 am)Longhorn Wrote: Well... The two examples aren’t really the same.
In the trolley problem, someone must die. So it makes sense to choose saving five people over one. In the transplant problem, you aren’t choosing between one inevitable outcome and the other, you’re consciously and immorally killing a person that did not HAVE to die.
You are mistaken.
In the trolley experiment, the one person on the other track does not HAVE TO DIE either. The only way they die is if you ACT by pulling the switch. Otherwise they survive. Think about it.
For sake of the doctor example, assume no other people are available to be donors. This way (at least from a consequentialist standpoint) both examples are the same.