Question 1

The trolley problem is a

Accepted Answer

The trolley problem is a hypothetical moral problem used in ethics and psychology to explore the dilemmas of moral decision-making.

Question 2

The point of the trolley problem is

Accepted Answer

The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics and psychology, involving a moral dilemma about whether to take an action that would result in the death of one person to save multiple others. It is designed to make us think about the principles that underlie our moral judgments, such as the difference between action and inaction and the value of individual lives.

Question 3

The cases involving a trolley and a surgeon are philosophically interesting because they

Accepted Answer

The trolley problem and the surgeon scenario are both used in philosophical discussions to explore moral intuitions and ethical reasoning. They seem similar in that they both involve making decisions that affect the lives of others, yet they often elicit different intuitive responses about what is morally right, highlighting the complexity and inconsistency in our moral judgments.

Question 4

In the trolley case, the driver must choose between

Accepted Answer

The driver must choose between killing one person or letting five people die.

Question 5

Thomson reports that when she asks people about the trolley case, most people feel that

Accepted Answer

The trolley problem is a famous ethical dilemma that explores the morality of action versus inaction. In this scenario, most people tend to believe it is permissible to turn the trolley to avoid a greater harm, reflecting a utilitarian perspective that prioritizes the greater good or the lesser of two evils.

Question 6

Which of these might be a reason not to turn the trolley?

Accepted Answer

B) Turning the trolley involves making an active decision to cause harm (killing one person), which can be ethically distinguished from passively allowing harm to occur (letting the five die without intervening). This perspective is rooted in the ethical principle that doing harm is worse than allowing harm.

Question 7

Which of these might be a reason to turn the trolley?

Accepted Answer

Turning the trolley to save five lives at the cost of one is often considered the utilitarian choice, prioritizing the greater good by minimizing total harm.

Question 8

The surgeon case is similar to the trolley case, because both cases are about a choice to

Accepted Answer

Both the surgeon case and the trolley case involve a moral dilemma where one must decide whether to take one life to save five others.

Question 9

Thomson's "Fat Man" example differs from the first trolley scenario in

Accepted Answer

In Thomson's "Fat Man" example, the key difference from the first trolley scenario is that it requires one to physically push a person (lay hands on someone) to stop a trolley and save a greater number of lives, introducing a direct physical involvement in the act of sacrificing one life for others.

Question 10

Most people that Thomson talks to about the surgeon case feel that

Accepted Answer

The surgeon case, often discussed in the context of ethical dilemmas, typically concludes with most people feeling that it is not morally permissible for the surgeon to kill a healthy patient to save five lives. This reflects a common ethical intuition that it is wrong to actively harm an innocent person, even for the greater good.

Question 11

In the trolley scenario, the driver must decide whether to kill one or five people.

Accepted Answer

The answer of In the trolley scenario, the driver must...

Question 12

Thomson uses the trolley problem and the surgeon problem to explore the principles behind our moral beliefs.

Accepted Answer

Thomson uses both the trolley problem and the surgeon problem to examine and challenge our intuitions about rights, obligations, and moral principles, showing how context can affect our judgments about what is morally permissible.

Question 13

In the "Fat Man" version of the trolley problem, fewer lives are at stake than in the original version, though the emotional dimensions of the problem differ.

Accepted Answer

In both the original trolley problem and the "Fat Man" version, the same number of lives are at stake: one life versus five lives. The difference lies in the method of action required to save the five lives, not the number of lives at stake.

Question 14

The trolley driver may choose to act so that only one person dies, instead of five people.

Accepted Answer

This scenario refers to the Trolley Problem, a thought experiment in ethics. The trolley driver can choose to divert the trolley onto a track where it will kill one person instead of continuing on a track where it will kill five, thus choosing to act in a way that results in fewer deaths.

Question 15

In the surgeon case, the doctor has the option of harvesting valuable organs from a patient who will die anyway.

Accepted Answer

In medical ethics, it is not permissible to harvest organs from a patient without their consent or the consent of their legal representative, and it must be ensured that the patient is indeed deceased according to legal and medical standards before organ harvesting can occur.

Question 16

According to Thomson, most people have the same response to the trolley story and the surgeon story: in each case, one life should be sacrificed to save five lives.

Accepted Answer

In the trolley story, most people agree that diverting the trolley to save five lives at the expense of one is morally permissible. However, in the surgeon story, where a surgeon considers killing a healthy person to use their organs to save five patients, most people find this morally impermissible. The difference in responses highlights complex moral intuitions about direct harm, intention, and the nature of action versus inaction.

Question 17

Although both stories are about sacrificing one life to save five, most people have different feelings about the trolley case and the surgeon caseظ

Accepted Answer

In the trolley case, people often feel it's more acceptable to divert a trolley to save five lives at the cost of one, whereas in the surgeon case, where a surgeon considers killing a healthy person to use their organs to save five patients, people generally find it morally unacceptable. This difference in moral intuition is widely discussed in ethics and psychology.

Question 18

The belief that the driver should turn the trolley to run over one person and save five supports a moral principle of sacrificing one person to save a greater number of lives.

Accepted Answer

This belief aligns with utilitarianism, a moral principle that advocates for actions that maximize the overall good or happiness, even if it means sacrificing the few for the benefit of the many.

Question 19

According to Thomson, most people think the surgeon should be allowed to sacrifice a healthy patient if it was 100% guaranteed that he would be able to save the lives of five other people with the organ transplants.

Accepted Answer

Thomson argues that most people would find it morally impermissible for a surgeon to sacrifice a healthy patient to save five others, highlighting a moral intuition that individual rights cannot be overridden simply by utilitarian calculations.

Question 20

Thomson tells the surgeon story to show that, in principle, it may be permissible to kill one healthy person to save five.

Accepted Answer

Thomson's surgeon story is a thought experiment that explores the moral implications of sacrificing one person to save multiple others, highlighting the ethical dilemmas in utilitarian reasoning.

Quiz 54: The Trolley Problem Judith Jarvis Thomson