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Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Trolley Experiment

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The Trolley Experiment: Do You Pull It?
Imagine you sit atop a hill overlooking a train track that splits into two, the sun shining over you in magnificence. As you enjoy the beautiful day, you are horrified to see a trolley careening down the track towards five unsuspecting workers at such a speed that will undoubtedly kill them. You are too far to yell and alert them, but you do notice a lever a few feet away that, if pulled, will change the cart’s direction and save the five workers’ lives. However, on the other end of track, a man is sleeping. Likewise, you are too far away to alert him, so if you pull the lever, the cart will bowl in his direction and kill him. Should you pull the lever, or not? This scenario, known as the Trolley Problem, was introduced by Philippa Foot in her 1967 article "The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect," and overtime variants were developed by many other philosophers.
The utilitarian would say to pull the lever. As utilitarians believe, the morally right course of action is the one that maximizes utility; heightening benefit to its extent, and lowering suffering as low as possible. In the case of the trolley, the “right” thing to do would be to save the five workers, for the question becomes whether to lose five lives and save one, or save five lives and lose …show more content…

Thus, if the workers on the left were all criminals and the lone worker on the right was Mother Theresa, killing the worker on the right would actually heighten the suffering and lower the benefit of the situation. In terms of the apple metaphor, if the apple on the right was juicier, more nutrient-filled, and overall more valuable than the five apples on the left combined, it would seem a waste to squish the lone apple instead of five rotten

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