RE: Trolley Problem/Consistency in Ethics
January 25, 2018 at 11:52 am
(This post was last modified: January 25, 2018 at 11:59 am by The Grand Nudger.)
I'm suggesting that they -weren't- being inconsistent to consequentialism.
That both answers, save the 5 on the trolley and save the 1 at the hospital were completely consistent with consequentialist ethics. That a person simply didn't see the deaths of the five in the organ example as being the worst outcome..they saw the body farm concept of medicine as the worst outcome, despite the deaths of those five people.
If the ends, at least in some cases, justify the means; then letting those people die in order to avoid that outcome is a consequentialist justification. If we say the doctor is duty bound..that;s a virtue justfication. Duty bound to what, though? The rules of the trade. Deontology. Why are those rules the way they are, though? The consequences of them being otherwise.
That both answers, save the 5 on the trolley and save the 1 at the hospital were completely consistent with consequentialist ethics. That a person simply didn't see the deaths of the five in the organ example as being the worst outcome..they saw the body farm concept of medicine as the worst outcome, despite the deaths of those five people.
If the ends, at least in some cases, justify the means; then letting those people die in order to avoid that outcome is a consequentialist justification. If we say the doctor is duty bound..that;s a virtue justfication. Duty bound to what, though? The rules of the trade. Deontology. Why are those rules the way they are, though? The consequences of them being otherwise.
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