Transcript Trolley Problem

TRAIN PROBLEM
BASIC LAWS OF ETHICS
• It is wrong to kill people.
• It is wrong to let others die as a result of inaction.
• There is a runaway train heading down
the railway tracks. Ahead on the tracks
there is one person. The train is headed
straight for him. You are standing
beside the tracks, and you are in a
position to pull the man to safety.
What do you do?
2ND SCENARIO
• There is a runaway train heading down the railway
tracks. Ahead on the tracks there are five people.
The train is headed straight for them. You are
standing some distance off in the train yard, next to
a lever. If you pull this lever, the train will switch to a
different set of tracks. Unfortunately, you notice that
there is one person on the side track. You have two
options: (1) Do nothing, and the train kills the five
people on the main track. (2) Pull the lever,
diverting the train onto the side track where it will kill
one person. Which is the correct choice?
JOURNAL
• Invent a 3rd ethical law for yourself that would
answer this question and dictate your behavior in
this situation. Explain your answer in one
paragraph.
UTILITARIAN VIEW
• It is obligatory to steer to the track with one man on
it. According to simple utilitarianism, such a decision
would be not only permissible, but, morally
speaking, the better option.
ALTERNATE VIEWPOINT
• Since moral wrongs are already in place in the
situation, moving to another track constitutes a
participation in the moral wrong, making one
partially responsible for the death when otherwise
no one would be responsible.
MORAL OBLIGATION
• Simply being present in this situation and being able
to influence its outcome constitutes an obligation to
participate. If this were the case, then deciding to
do nothing would be considered an immoral act if
one values five lives more than one.
I, ROBOT
• The robots change their behavior based on
“modifications” to the first law and the variables
involved.
• As you read the story, as yourself how the events
connect to the ethical logic we all use when
making moral decisions. What is Asimov’s purpose
in writing this story?