Anonymous
Post 04/04/2025 09:50     Subject: Trolley Problem.
It’s a question that tells you more about the person asking it then the person answering it. The only value it has is in providing those who are so inclined an opportunity to feel smug.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2025 09:06     Subject: Trolley Problem.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would not pull the lever. One life is just as precious as five lives. It’s not quantified decision - how many lives. I don’t have the tools and knowledge to decide which lives are more “important” or worth saving. So I would not make that call.
As Stalin said, “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic”.

I disagree with Stalin. A million deaths is a million tragedies. Each person was someone’s child, brother, sister or spouse.


Conversely, no one’s getting out of this universe alive. You could decline to pull the lever, only to find the single person dead of a heart attack on the tracks. You could pull the lever, and the five people you save could go out and get drunk afterwards and end up driving into a bus full of nuns, orphans and jet fuel. You could figure out how to save everyone, against all odds, but whoops nuclear war breaks out before you can put your plan into action. You could try to save everyone, but your plan goes awry, and everyone dies, and you end your life a broken man never realizing you prevented the birth of a second Hitler. It’s a uniquely useless thought experiment.


It's not useless, just unpredictable, like any thought experiment.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2025 08:44     Subject: Trolley Problem.
I'm pulling the lever and I could sleep OK with that decision afterward. Now, would I have nightmares of the train smashing this person over and over? Probably but that's because it is a gruesome death not because it wasn't the right decision.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2025 08:40     Subject: Trolley Problem.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would not pull the lever. One life is just as precious as five lives. It’s not quantified decision - how many lives. I don’t have the tools and knowledge to decide which lives are more “important” or worth saving. So I would not make that call.
As Stalin said, “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic”.

I disagree with Stalin. A million deaths is a million tragedies. Each person was someone’s child, brother, sister or spouse.


Conversely, no one’s getting out of this universe alive. You could decline to pull the lever, only to find the single person dead of a heart attack on the tracks. You could pull the lever, and the five people you save could go out and get drunk afterwards and end up driving into a bus full of nuns, orphans and jet fuel. You could figure out how to save everyone, against all odds, but whoops nuclear war breaks out before you can put your plan into action. You could try to save everyone, but your plan goes awry, and everyone dies, and you end your life a broken man never realizing you prevented the birth of a second Hitler. It’s a uniquely useless thought experiment.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2025 08:30     Subject: Trolley Problem.
Anonymous wrote:I would not pull the lever. One life is just as precious as five lives. It’s not quantified decision - how many lives. I don’t have the tools and knowledge to decide which lives are more “important” or worth saving. So I would not make that call.
As Stalin said, “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic”.

I disagree with Stalin. A million deaths is a million tragedies. Each person was someone’s child, brother, sister or spouse.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2025 08:11     Subject: Trolley Problem.
I would not do anything, because it would not be fair to the one person. They did not choose to give up their life to save others. I cannot make that decision for them.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 21:06     Subject: Trolley Problem.
I would not pull the lever unless it was my job/duty (say I was a traffic controller)
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 20:51     Subject: Trolley Problem.
I would not pull the lever. One life is just as precious as five lives. It’s not quantified decision - how many lives. I don’t have the tools and knowledge to decide which lives are more “important” or worth saving. So I would not make that call.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 19:56     Subject: Trolley Problem.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A runaway trolley is speeding down the tracks. If you do nothing, it will kill five workers. You the option to pull a lever, diverting the trolley onto another track where it will kill one person instead. Do you pull the lever ?
Why or why not ?


I would quickly pray for wisdom to take the best decision.

I would most likely pull the lever whether or not the one person was like me in important ways since it is hard to justify causing death of 5 people


My recollection of this issue in Jurisprudence class was that the person the lever kills is your child and you don't know how many people are on the train.


Ultimate conflict of interest - I had only read the trolley problem in philosophy classes the way that it is presented by OP. However that is an interesting twist. It makes sense to change things up.

I did not really agree with the “test your philosophy values” link posted prior. It was too black and white whereas real life ethics are so much more multi-layered, and contextual. .
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 17:37     Subject: Trolley Problem.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is not about the right answer.
There is a question to answer,
Then explain your reasoning.


The fact that so many people don't believe there is a right answer to this question is very disturbing. 1 person dies, or 5 people die, you choose. It really isn't more complicated than that.


No,
This is the way I look at it,
Do you actively kill one person to save an accidental death of 5.


But not pulling the lever is you causing the accident.


No, I am outside of the trolly.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 16:38     Subject: Trolley Problem.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is not about the right answer.
There is a question to answer,
Then explain your reasoning.


The fact that so many people don't believe there is a right answer to this question is very disturbing. 1 person dies, or 5 people die, you choose. It really isn't more complicated than that.


No,
This is the way I look at it,
Do you actively kill one person to save an accidental death of 5.


But not pulling the lever is you causing the accident.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 16:37     Subject: Trolley Problem.
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A runaway trolley is speeding down the tracks. If you do nothing, it will kill five workers. You the option to pull a lever, diverting the trolley onto another track where it will kill one person instead. Do you pull the lever ?
Why or why not ?


I would quickly pray for wisdom to take the best decision.

I would most likely pull the lever whether or not the one person was like me in important ways since it is hard to justify causing death of 5 people


My recollection of this issue in Jurisprudence class was that the person the lever kills is your child and you don't know how many people are on the train.
Anonymous
Post 03/31/2025 14:09     Subject: Re:Trolley Problem.
Anonymous wrote:And there are some people who would run over the 5, back up the train, pull the lever to switch tracks to run over the 1.


Only a truly evil person would do such a thing.
Anonymous
Post 03/31/2025 10:20     Subject: Re:Trolley Problem.
Anonymous wrote:And there are some people who would run over the 5, back up the train, pull the lever to switch tracks to run over the 1.


Depends on who they were
Anonymous
Post 03/31/2025 09:36     Subject: Re:Trolley Problem.
And there are some people who would run over the 5, back up the train, pull the lever to switch tracks to run over the 1.