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Trolley Problems

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Submitted By christine1579
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Problem 1 of the Trolley problems talks about a runaway trolley that will surely kill 5 people on the track. The person reading is put in a position where he has immediate access to a switch that can divert this runaway trolley but doing so will kill one person on that side track. Problem 2 puts the person reading on a bridge over the tracks next to a very large person who. We are given the chose to push the very large person on the track which will stop the runaway trolley, thereby saving the life of 5 people on the track ahead but taking the life of the large person used to stop the trolley. Both questions ask will the person reading choose to kill the 1 person on the side-track or the large man on the bridge to save the lives of 5 more.
According to Kantian ethics a person may believe good will acts for the sake of moral duty thereby giving the act itself moral worth. As long as the action then is driven by a sense of duty to do something good for others, even for strangers, then it is ethical. If the person chooses to turn on the switch to save the 5 lives and sacrifice the 1, as long as he believes that saving the lives of 5 people and sacrificing the life of 1 for them, with him being the factor that ends the life of that 1 and he stands beside his action, then from a Kantian perspective, the act has moral worth. This is the same for Problem 2, if the person is willing to push the large man on the tracks, is willing to take the life of that man to save the life of 5, and he believes it is the right thing to do given the number of lives that could potentially be lost, then from a Kantian view, the action has moral worth although from a legal view, that act can be equated to murder.
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that looks for essential value of an action. In analyzing an action or a situation, you must first identify the elements of 'good' and of

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