from mylot.com

I was taking a philosophy class and our teacher asked us these three scenarios.

1: You are standing by the switch near a train track. The train is coming and the brakes are broken. The train is headed on a path where it will run over five people who are tied to the tracks, killing them. If you pull the switch, the train will switch direction and go on a track where it will kill 1 person who is tied to the tracks, but if you don't pull it he will be safe. You have no time to untie anyone. What do you do?

2: You are standing on a bridge over a train track. The train is coming, the brakes are broken, and there are 5 people tied to the tracks. There is a fat man on the bridge. This man is fat enough that if you pushed him, he would stop the train from running over the 5 people, but he would be killed. Do you push him?

3: Same situation as #2, but the fat man is standing on a trapdoor. You are standing by a lever that will open the trapdoor, he will fall onto the tracks, stop the train from running over the five people, and be killed. Do you pull it?

What would you do?

1. Pull the switch.
2. Push him.
3. Pull it.

These are classic questions about morality. For some reason we condone solution #1 but condemn solution #2, even if they are very similar (the second solution involves a more active role though). Question #3 is just like question #2.

I came in thinking I needed to discuss the mysterious powers of Meemo which some might consider evil - and whether using such an awesome system is moral as it makes everyone look so silly
As for the scenario - I cant be jumping and saving people with the N900 in my pocket.

I am not a murderer:

#1 Don't pull it
#2 Don't push him
#3 Don't pull it

Nor a savior. Okay, I give up. Who are you?

Too skinny. Besides, jumping in front of the train is not an option.

And lets say that you know that the 5 people in option 1 are people involved with the mafia. Also, the people in the train are people convicted of being terrorists.

Or a variation. Say that you know that the 5 people and those on the train are terminally ill.

the above really tests more the difference in personal action vs inpersonal action than the basic question, is it ok to kill one to save five

if you like this kind of stuff, you should check out the harvard moral sense test

http://moral.wjh.harvard.edu/

Note that there is no way you could know that the fat guy would stop the train if you pushed him into it. You would, however, be able to surmise that the train being on the other track would have a predictable outcome.

Your brain isn't just trying to avoid direct, causal responsibility, but it's properly evaluating statistical likelihoods.