What is the Trolley Problem psychology?

The trolley problem is a series of thought experiments in ethics and psychology, involving stylized ethical dilemmas of whether to sacrifice one person to save a larger number. Opinions on the ethics of each scenario turn out to be sensitive to details of the story that may seem immaterial to the abstract dilemma.

What is the utilitarian argument?

Utilitarianism is a theory of morality that advocates actions that foster happiness or pleasure and oppose actions that cause unhappiness or harm. Utilitarianism would say that an action is right if it results in the happiness of the greatest number of people in a society or a group.

Which philosopher proposes variations in the trolly dilemma that could impact our decision on whether or not to actively switch tracks?

A few years later, Judith Thomson, a philosopher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, coined the term “trolley problem” and created what would become its two most famous variants, the “footbridge” and the “switch.” In the “footbridge” scenario (also known as “fat man”), the streetcar is heading towards five …

What is the Trolley Problem an example of?

The trolley problem is a question of human morality, and an example of a philosophical view called consequentialism. This view says that morality is defined by the consequences of an action, and that the consequences are all that matter.

How many lives can you save by diverting the train?

Here is one last variation to consider. Go back to the original scenario–you can pull a lever to divert the train so that five lives are saved and one person is killed–but this time the one person who will be killed is your mother or your brother. What would you do in this case?

What are the two options for diverting the trolley?

You have two (and only two) options: Do nothing, in which case the trolley will kill the five people on the main track. Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person. Which is the more ethical option? Or, more simply: What is the right thing to do?

What happens if you pull the lever that diverts the train?

But in this case, pulling the lever will not divert the train. Instead, it will open the trapdoor, causing the man to fall through it and onto the track in front of the train. Generally speaking, people are not as ready to pull this lever as they are to pull the lever that diverts the train.

How do you save the five people on the trolley track?

You see a runaway trolley moving toward five tied-up (or otherwise incapacitated) people lying on the main track. You are standing next to a lever that controls a switch. If you pull the lever, the trolley will be redirected onto a side track, and the five people on the main track will be saved.