These are two classic morality problems.
#1. The Trolley Problem
There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. Unfortunately, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You do not have the ability to operate the lever in a way that would cause the trolley to derail without loss of life (for example, holding the lever in an intermediate position so that the trolley goes between the two sets of tracks, or pulling the lever after the front wheels pass the switch, but before the rear wheels do). You have two options:
- Do nothing, and the trolley kills the five people on the main track.
- Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.
What do you do?
#2. The Fat Man
As before, a trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people. You are on a bridge under which it will pass. There is a very fat man next to you – your only way to stop the trolley is to push him over the bridge and onto the track, which will kill him but prevent the other five from dying. As before you have two options:
- Do nothing, and the trolley kills the five people on the main track.
- Push the man over, killing one person to save five.
What do you do?
Is one choice more moral than the other? Why?