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The Trolley Problem: When Numbers Decide Morality
A thought experiment that divides utilitarian and deontological ethics
Would you pull a lever to save five lives at the cost of one? Most people say yes — until they're asked to push someone off a bridge instead.
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The trolley problem, devised by philosopher Philippa Foot in 1967, is one of ethics' most powerful teaching tools. A runaway trolley hurtles toward five people tied to the tracks. You can divert it to a side track — but one person is tied there. Do you act?
Most people pull the lever: five lives outweigh one. But when the scenario changes — you must physically push a bystander onto the tracks to stop the trolley — the same arithmetic produces profound moral discomfort. The numbers haven't changed. Our intuitions have.
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Question 1 of 1What does the difference in reactions to the lever vs. pushing scenarios primarily reveal?