What is the Trolley Problem psychology?

What is the Trolley Problem psychology?

The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics about a fictional scenario in which an onlooker has the choice to save 5 people in danger of being hit by a trolley, by diverting the trolley to kill just 1 person.

What is the actual answer to the trolley problem?

Foot’s own response to the Trolley Problem was that the morally justified action would be to steer the trolley to kill the one workman, thus saving a net four lives. In order to demonstrate the morality of this, she made a distinction between what she called ‘negative duties’ and ‘positive duties’.

What does the Trolley Problem teach us?

The trolley dilemma allows us to think through the consequences of an action and consider whether its moral value is determined solely by its outcome.

Is the trolley problem a philosophical question?

Trolley problem, in moral philosophy, a question first posed by the contemporary British philosopher Philippa Foot as a qualified defense of the doctrine of double effect and as an argument for her thesis that negative duties carry significantly more weight in moral decision making than positive duties.

Do you push the fat man?

You are standing on a footbridge looking down on the unfolding disaster. However, a fat man, a stranger, is standing next to you: if you push him off the bridge, he will topple onto the line and, although he will die, his chunky body will stop the train, saving five lives.

What is the ethical dilemma in the trolley problem?

The dilemma is whether you should pull the lever in your trolley to switch to the second track, thereby killing the one person, or stay on the first track, allowing the five to die.

What is the best choice in the trolley problem?

The only way to save the lives of the five workers is to push this stranger off the footbridge and onto the tracks below where his large body will stop the trolley. The stranger will die if Adam does this, but the five workers will be saved.

Would you sacrifice one person to save five What if you had to cause harm with your own hands?

Simply put, this doctrine states that it is morally acceptable to do something that causes a serious harm in the course of promoting some greater good if the harm in question is not an intended consequence of the action but is, rather, an unintended side-effect.

Is the trolley problem A paradox?

The trolley problem is an ethical paradox, which forces us reflect on our own values and biases. Though the fictitious problem involves the subject making a quick decision, the exercise is useful precisely because it shows how hard making such a decision would be in practice.

Which principles are in conflict in the trolley problem?

Foot argues that Trolley Driver involves a conflict between two negative duties: the duty not to kill one and the duty not to kill five. The duty not to kill five is stronger than the duty not to kill one, so it is morally permissible to kill one to save five others.

Is it morally permissible for Frank to shove the man?

Frank can shove the 1 man onto the track in the path of the train, killing him; or he can refrain from doing that, letting the 5 die. Is it morally permissible for Frank to shove the man? In this case, only 12% of participants answered that it was morally permissible for Frank to shove the man.

Is Philippa Foot a utilitarian?

Philippa Foot Utilitarianism is a particular form of Consequentialism, and as such it is radically flawed; depending as it does on a vacuous use of expressions such as ‘best state of affairs.

What would a rule utilitarian say about the trolley problem?

In all the trolley scenarios, utilitarians would favor whatever option in which the greater numbers of lives are saved. The moral value of an action is not in its intrinsic nature, but rather in its consequences.

What is the right thing to do in trolley?

The right thing to do is to pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.

Is it ethical to pull the lever?

But so-called “act utilitarians” judge each act by its consequences; so they will simply do the math and pull the lever. Moreover, they will argue that there is no significant difference between causing a death by pulling the lever and not preventing a death by refusing to pull the lever.

Is the trolley problem utilitarianism?

The trolley problem highlights a fundamental tension between two schools of moral thought. The utilitarian perspective dictates that the most appropriate action is the one that achieves the greatest good for the greatest number.

What is Foot’s argument?

Foot believes that moral considerations, such as those of justice and charity, are on par with self-interest and desire-fulfillment. She also believes that there are considerations of family and friendship that provide a separate category of reasons for action (RG 8–9).

Is Philippa Foot a Kantian?

I. Foot’s Critique of Kant: Philippa Foot argues that Kant wrongly views morality as a matter of categorical (rather than hypothetical) imperatives. The issue here, as she identifies it, is over the question of the binding force of morality.

What would a Deontologist do in the trolley problem?

In deontology, one rule is chosen that becomes the universal law. The ends never justify the means. In the case of the trolley problem, this would mean that the conductor must choose one metric for fairness that they never break.

Is the trolley problem deontology?

What is the trolley problem in psychology?

Trolley problem is the name given to a thought experiment in philosophy and psychology. It has sprouted a number of variations, but is distilled to something like this: you are riding in a trolley without functioning brakes, headed toward a switch in the tracks.

What is the trolley problem according to Philippa Foot?

Trolley problem, in moral philosophy, a question first posed by the contemporary British philosopher Philippa Foot as a qualified defense of the doctrine of double effect and as an argument for her thesis that negative duties carry significantly more weight in moral decision making than positive duties.

What is the trolley driver thought experiment?

Foot’s version of the thought experiment, now known as “Trolley Driver”, ran as follows: Suppose that a judge or magistrate is faced with rioters demanding that a culprit be found for a certain crime and threatening otherwise to take their own bloody revenge on a particular section of the community.

How many people are tied up on the trolley?

Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. Unfortunately, you notice that there is one person on the side track.