Navigating the Utilitarianism Trolley Problem

Navigating the Utilitarianism Trolley Problem

The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics that asks, essentially, whether or not it is ethically permissible to sacrifice one person for the sake of saving five other lives. Attempting to solve the problem forces the person solving it to think through their own ethical beliefs rationally, and so develop their own ethical understanding. For my own answer, I would pull the lever and sacrifice one life to save five. I answer this way because I believe that the solution to ethical dilemmas should be the one with the best consequences.

This kind of ethical philosophy is known as consequentialism. More specifically, it is a kind of consequentialism called…