The Runaway Trolley Car
August 5th, 2009
A runaway trolley car is flying down the tracks. In the path of the trolley car are five people; they will most definitely be killed if the trolley car continues on this path. There is however a switch that can divert the trolley car onto another track. On this track is only one person, who will be killed if the trolley takes this path. Do you as a bystander flip the switch so that the trolley car only killed one person, or leave it on its original course to kill five people? Does your choice change depending if you personally know the one person? In this moral dilemma of the runaway trolley car, what supports your underlying decision of who lives and who dies?