Consequentialism: The Trolley Problem

The trolley problem was an experiment that looked to explore the concept of human morality and a philosophical view of consequentialism. The general form of the problem went as follows: You have two options. The first option is to do nothing, which results in the trolley killing five people. The second option is to pull a lever diverting the trolley where it will kill one person. Over the years, there have been many variations for this thought experiment. One of the most popular variations has been the Fat Man variant, which uses pushing a Fat Man onto the tracks instead of pulling a switch. Many philosophers over the years have attempted to explain what is the correct option by using two well-known philosophical theories, Utilitarianism and Kantianism. Utilitarianism deals with the consequences of actions and states that an action is morally right if its consequences lead to happiness (pleasure), and wrong if it ends in unhappiness (pain). Kantianism on the other hand states that certain types of actions …show more content…
Kant described this duty as acting in such a way that everyone else would act and one that treats human beings with respect. When looking at the Fat Man variant, Kantianism provides a very easy explanation for the right action to take. A Kantian would come to the conclusion that pushing the Fat Man onto the track would be using a person for the benefit of the people on the track and would thus let the trolley continue on its path. Given the Trolley Problem, Kantianism provides a very unique and complex situation because the views for a Kantian when determining the morally right choice may vary. A Kantian may decide to pull the switch even though we would be killing someone because we are not using the person we kill. Their death is simply an unfortunate and unintended consequence of our attempt