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    The Trolley Problem: Student's Name Institutional Affiliation Professor's Name Course Date

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    maxwell osoro
    The Trolley Problem is a famous thought experiment that presents an ethical dilemma of whether to sacrifice one person to save several others. There is no consensus on the morally correct action. Utilitarian ethics is often used to analyze the problem, as it argues one should maximize overall happiness and minimize suffering. According to utilitarianism, it would be morally acceptable to sacrifice one person by flipping a switch or pushing them off a bridge if it saved five others, as that increases total utility. However, others argue factors like reason and justification of an action are also important to consider in determining morality.

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    The Trolley Problem: Student's Name Institutional Affiliation Professor's Name Course Date

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    maxwell osoro
    50 views4 pages
    The Trolley Problem is a famous thought experiment that presents an ethical dilemma of whether to sacrifice one person to save several others. There is no consensus on the morally correct action. Utilitarian ethics is often used to analyze the problem, as it argues one should maximize overall happiness and minimize suffering. According to utilitarianism, it would be morally acceptable to sacrifice one person by flipping a switch or pushing them off a bridge if it saved five others, as that increases total utility. However, others argue factors like reason and justification of an action are also important to consider in determining morality.

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    The Trolley Problem is a famous thought experiment that presents an ethical dilemma of whether to sacrifice one person to save several others. There is no consensus on the morally correct action. Utilitarian ethics is often used to analyze the problem, as it argues one should maximize overall happiness and minimize suffering. According to utilitarianism, it would be morally acceptable to sacrifice one person by flipping a switch or pushing them off a bridge if it saved five others, as that increases total utility. However, others argue factors like reason and justification of an action are also important to consider in determining morality.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    50 views4 pages

    The Trolley Problem: Student's Name Institutional Affiliation Professor's Name Course Date

    Uploaded by

    maxwell osoro
    The Trolley Problem is a famous thought experiment that presents an ethical dilemma of whether to sacrifice one person to save several others. There is no consensus on the morally correct action. Utilitarian ethics is often used to analyze the problem, as it argues one should maximize overall happiness and minimize suffering. According to utilitarianism, it would be morally acceptable to sacrifice one person by flipping a switch or pushing them off a bridge if it saved five others, as that increases total utility. However, others argue factors like reason and justification of an action are also important to consider in determining morality.

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    1

    The Trolley Problem

    Student's Name

    Institutional Affiliation

    Professor's Name

    Course

    Date
    2

    The Trolley Problem

    Ethical dilemmas are circumstances in which making a decision becomes challenging due

    to the presence of two or more approaches that do not settle the situation in a way that is

    consistent with ethical principles. When faced with an ethical dilemma, one must choose an

    option that does not conflict with established social norms and ethics or with one's own internal

    moral perceptions.

    The Trolley Problem, a famous experiment in which there is no clear consensus on what

    is considered ‘moral,’ as taught by Philippa Foot in 1967 and revised by Eleanor Nelsen in 2017,

    is a classic experiment in which there is no clear consensus on what is considered ‘moral.’ This

    is why the scenario was approached using consequentialism theories, which are exclusively

    based on the outcome of an action and a focus on maximizing happiness. Eleanor Nelsen’s

    trolley problem can be assessed using a variety of ethical/philosophical ideas. Everyone

    considers themselves moral, but utilitarianism, as articulated by Jeremy Bethany, obstructs clear-

    cut moral views. In this scenario, I would push the fat man off the bridge and pull the lever to

    block the trolley from passing over the five people.

    Utilitarianism places a premium on happiness and pleasure as the ultimate motivation for

    the actions. Utilitarianism maintains that wherever possible and regardless of the circumstances,

    one should act in a way that causes the least suffering or the greatest pleasure to the most

    significant number of people. According to Nyholm and Smids (2016), most people would agree

    because they believe it is morally acceptable to flip the switch that saves more lives. A utilitarian

    might argue that it is morally permissible to sacrifice one person for the sake of five others in the

    given trolley dilemma. The reason for this is that such an activity would increase total utility.

    This deed of saving five guys would be more significant than any other result.
    3

    According to Nelsen (2017), the utilitarianism principle holds that an activity is right if it

    benefits the greatest number of people. When humans are faced with the task of deciding

    whether a course of action is correct or incorrect, they must assess if the decision would benefit

    the greatest number of individuals. In his “Would you Sacrifice One Person to Save Five?”

    Nelsen points out that when people are put in situations where they must decide whether or not

    an action is ethically correct, the most important factor to consider is whether or not the action

    will benefit the greatest number of people.

    According to this utilitarian view, right action promotes happiness, whereas incorrect

    behavior does not offer happiness to everyone impacted by it. As a result, utilitarianism is correct

    since it focuses on what makes people happy. Happiness and pleasure are valuable, correct

    actions promote happiness while wrong actions cause misery, and happiness should be shared

    equally by all. These are the three principles of utilitarianism. As a result, this theory is a

    tremendous moral theory that holds that the appropriate behaviors promote happiness for a larger

    number of people. In the utilitarianism approach, philosophers give philosophical solutions to

    moral dilemmas. Whatever action is taken on the scale, it should allow the greatest number of

    people to live (Goldhill, 2018).

    Appropriate actions should be taken using the logic that if it benefits a larger number of

    people, it should be implemented. The trolley problem depicts real-life scenarios in which certain

    behaviors inflict injury and are regarded permissible, while others produce harm and are

    considered forbidden. Because morality is linked to reason inside the brain, an action's

    justification depends justification of an action is dependent on what a person supports.


    4

    References

    Goldhill, O. (2022). Philosophers created a morality test that gauges utilitarianism better than
    the Trolley Problem. Quartz. Retrieved from
    https://www.google.com/amp/s/qz.com/1196243/test-how-moral-or-immoral-you-are-with-
    this-utilitarian-philosophy-quiz/amp/.
    Nelsen, E. (2017). Would you sacrifice one person to save five?.. Youtube. Retrieved from
    https://youtu.be/yg16u_bzjPE.
    Nyholm, S., & Smids, J. (2016). The ethics of accident-algorithms for self-driving cars: An
    applied trolley problem?. Ethical theory and moral practice, 19(5), 1275-1289.

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