Trolley Essay

Often in life, difficult situations arise that challenge our moral philosophy and it can be hard to make some choices. It is important to speculate upon such scenarios so that consistent philosophical ideals can be reached and that good arguments can be presented for certain motives. An example of a hypothetical case is if a trolley is moving along its tracks toward five people who will be killed if the trolley proceeds, but there is an option to pull a lever and divert the trolley to a different set of tracks where only one person will be killed. The choice is clear, and it is up to one person to either let five people die or choose to kill one person. By applying the concept of utilitarianism, I will argue in favor of choosing to kill the …show more content…
This argument, however, is inconsistent with a core concept of utilitarianism that “everyone’s happiness counts the same” (Driver). The idea that one person is more valuable than five people based on who the person is unfair to human society by not being consistent. There will always be debate over what constitutes a valuable life and that is why it should not be a factor in the trolley decision. The one and only factor in my decision to divert the trolley is because of the number of lives on the line, and therefore I would not divert the trolley if there were an equal number of people on both tracks. In such a case, choosing to make the trolley go on a different track would not make a difference from a utilitarian point of view. Both options lead to the same consequence and there is no justification to alter the original path of the trolley. Choosing to divert the trolley if there were the same number of people on both tracks would be wrong because that direct action would not produce a better consequence, and that is why nothing should be