Ethical Dilemmas
The Runaway Trolley
1. A trolley is running out of control down a track. In its path are 5 people who have been tied to the track by a mad philosopher. Fortunately, you can flip a switch which will lead the trolley down a different track to safety. Unfortunately, there is a single person tied to that track. Should you flip the switch?
2. As before, a trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people. You are on a bridge under which it will pass, and you can stop it by dropping a heavy weight in front of it. As it happens, there is a very fat man next to you - your only way to stop the trolley is to push him over the bridge and onto the track, killing him to save five. Should you proceed?
The Surgeon’s Issue
1. A brilliant transplant surgeon has five patients, each in need of a different organ, each of whom will die without that organ. Unfortunately, there are no organs available to perform any of these five transplant operations. A healthy young traveler, just passing through the city the doctor works in, comes in for a routine checkup. In the course of doing the checkup, the doctor discovers that his organs are compatible with all five of his dying patients. Suppose further that if the young man were to disappear, no one would suspect the doctor.
2. What if one of the 5 patients is someone that you are related to?
The Neighbor’s Problem
1. Imagine that you have been married for over 30 years. Your better half and you have raised a family, retired, and are doing okay financially. Then, one day while on a walk, your better half claims that they are having trouble breathing. You take them to your neighbor, who happens to be the town doctor, to be looked at. After an exam, the neighbor doctor declares your better half has a deadly virus that is destroying their lungs and heart. You of course ask if there is any medicine to kill the disease. The doctor states that he has a prescription that he developed himself that he knows will work. Unfortunately, it is very expensive to make and reproduce. Therefore, he asks that you pay him $1.2 million dollars for the medicine. You, of course don’t have this money. What do you do?
2. What if the penalty for theft is life in prison? Do you still steal the item?
The Trip from Hell
1. Imagine you are on a trip with 5 of your best friends to the Congo River. While on a backpacking trip, you and your friends decide to go off course a little to see the country side. You are armed with nothing but a backpack full of food, socks, and a compass. Your group is found by a military group of locals who capture and hold you hostage. After hours of pleading with the leader of the military group, he states that you can be released under one rule. You take the gun that he gives you (he is surrounded by others with very large guns) with one bullet and you shoot and kill either yourself or 1 of the other members of the group. What do you do?
2. What if they promised to feed and return you back to the other group if you will shoot 2 members?