What is the train track moral dilemma?

The “Trolley Dilemma’ is an ethical thought experiment where there is a runaway trolley moving down railway tracks. In its path, there are five people tied up and unable to move and the trolley is heading straight for them. People are told that they are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever.

What is the train question?

In the classic version of the problem, a train is barreling down a track at five people. You’re in position to throw a switch, diverting the train to another track where it would only hit one person. So here’s your choice: Should you let the five people die, or make an active choice to kill the one person?

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.

Has the trolley problem ever happened in real life?

Ultimately, 84 percent of the participants who took part in the real-life test elected to press the button, sparing the five mice by consciously choosing to zap the other mouse – which, you might reason, results in fewer animals suffering overall (if they were receiving shocks, which they weren’t).

What is the trolley thought experiment?

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 trolley problem in psychology?

What the trolley problem says about you?

Allowing harm to happen, by failing to stop the trolley continuing on its path, is not actively hurting someone and so would not be considered murder. And so, according to Kant, actively pulling the lever would be the immoral choice.

Would you push the fat man off the bridge?

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.

Is turning the trolley morally permissible?

People who feel this discomfort also think that, although it is permissible to turn the trolley, it is not morally required to do so.