Trolley Problem Revisited

The Trolley Problem Revisited

I hate that I have to make these decisions. Why should I have to play God? I keep going back and forth on my ideas. My conscience is working overtime. Therefore, I have now decided these following words are my final decisions.

I see scenario #1 as a lose-lose situation. No one should have to make a decision like this. This is a choice of the lesser of two evils. In one case five people die. In the other case, one person would die. Doing nothing is a decision. It will mean the five aforementioned five die. Take an active role and you could spare those five at the expense of only one person dying. You could say, either way the one(s) who died did so in the line of duty. But is this a comfort to anyone involved? This includes me; the one making this decision. The answer is that there is no comfort.

There does not seem to be a majority in this scenario. Doing nothing in this case does mean that someone is guaranteed to live, the innocent man. In the first scenario, someone will die no matter what. That is the difference I see. I made my decision faced on my belief and feelings. Also, I feel that this means that the decision would not be my decision alone to make. The fat man would have to be involved the decision too. Since he is the innocent bystander, his feelings and belief should count for the majority of the decision too. He may choose to sacrifice his life, but that is his decision to make, NOT mine. In the end, though, the decision is actually mine to make based on the scenarios. I still stand by my decision to let the fat man live since he is, as I have stated previously, an innocent bystander.

Scenario #2 can be seen a win-lose or lose-lose. This is based on what is chosen as the outcome. Unlike in the first scenario, someone can live. The downside is five would die. Which way is better? It depends on how you look at it. I would save the one in this case. There are two reasons for my decision. Number one is my conscious says that I cannot have the personal involvement of doing the actual pushing of the man. In other words, I cannot cause the death of someone by means of person contact. Number two, the man is an innocent bystander. Therefore, why should he be chosen to die? Again, the five die in the line of duty. The fat man would not being doing his job at the time.

Therefore, since I have to make a real decision, I choose to flip the switch. I feel since death is inevitable, better one instead of five. This is common thinking and reasoning. I am in the majority here. But my decision is not based on "majority rules". My decision is because of what I feel is right.

Scenario #2 can be seen a win-lose or lose-lose. This is based on what is chosen as the outcome. Unlike in the first scenario, someone can live. The downside is five would die. Which way is better?