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The trolley problem is a series of thought experiments in ethics, psychology and artificial intelligence involving stylized ethical dilemmas of whether to sacrifice one person to save a larger number.
Apr 2, 2024 · Trolley problem, in moral philosophy, a question first posed by the contemporary British philosopher Philippa Foot as a qualified defense of the doctrine of double effect and as an argument for her thesis that negative duties carry significantly more weight in moral decision making than positive duties.
- One of the original versions of the trolley problem is this: Why does it seem permissible or even obligatory to kill one track worker to save five...
- The trolley problem originated in a 1967 essay by the British philosopher Philippa Foot, who used it in constructing a partial defense of the doctr...
- The trolley problem is important because versions of it have been used to explore the validity and range of application of the doctrine of double e...
- Utilitarianism holds that an action is right if it maximizes happiness for the agent and for everyone affected. Accordingly, in the trolley problem...
What is the Trolley Problem? The Trolley Problem is a question of ethics—the study of what is right and wrong. Picture a big, heavy trolley rolling quickly on train tracks. Ahead, there are five people tied up on the tracks who cannot move. The trolley will hit them if it stays on the same path.
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. The term is often used more loosely with regard to any choice that seemingly has a trade-off between what is good and what ...
For the uninitiated, the Trolley Problem arises from a set of moral dilemmas, most of which involve tradeoffs between causing one death and preventing several more deaths. The descriptive problem is to explain why, as a matter of psychological fact, people tend to approve of trading one life to save several lives in some cases but not others.
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The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics. The general form of the problem is this: 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.
In the second part of the lecture, Philippa Foot’s Trolley Problem is introduced, which poses the problem of reconciling two powerful conflicting moral intuitions. A critique of Foot’s solution to the problem is explored, and the lecture ends with Judith Jarvis Thomson’s proposed alternative.
