What is the correct 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 is the Catholic answer to the Trolley Problem?
Therefore, the Catholic answer is that the ends do not justify the means and you cannot kill one innocent person to save the lives of other innocent persons. The intentional killing of an innocent human being is murder.
What is the infamous trolley problem?
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 utilitarianism the Trolley Problem?
The trolley problem highlights a fundamental tension between two schools of moral thought. The utilitarian perspective dictates that most appropriate action is the one that achieves the greatest good for the greatest number.
Is Philippa Foot a utilitarian?
Philippa Foot Attacks Utilitarianism as a moral theory. 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.
Should you push the fat man?
It suddenly occurs to you that if you push the fat man off the bridge his sheer size and bulk will stop the trolley and the children will be safe. However, the fat man will almost certainly die. The ethical question facing you is, “would you push the fat man off the bridge?”
What is the principle of double effect in ethics?
The Principle of Double Effect. This principle aims to provide specific guidelines for determining when it is morally permissible to perform an action in pursuit of a good end in full knowledge that the action will also bring about bad results.
Is it OK to sacrifice a few to save many?
In practice, the life of that one patient is worth more than the lives of the other five. This is a matter of what ethical school you belong to. If you are a Utilitarian, then sacrificing the few for the need of the many is a reasonable thing to do.
What does Philippa Foot argue?
Philippa Foot was an Oxford-trained philosopher who argued for a neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics as opposed to deontology, utilitarianism, or consequentialism in ethics. Foot created the famous moral thought experiment known as the trolley problem.
What virtue did Philippa Foot consider to be most important?
1. Foot believes that wisdom is both an intellectual and a moral virtue; it is both a state of mind and a determination of character. It deals with both knowing something and willing something.
What is the fat man dilemma?
You are walking near a trolley-car track when you notice five people tied to it in a row. If you heave him over the side, he will fall on the track and his bulk will stop the trolley. He will die in the process.