The Trolley Problem Without a Trolley

Whenever you current college students with the trolley drawback, they could reply that the varied eventualities are implausible. In any case, who has ever been able to shove a cumbersome man over a railing and thereby save the lives of workmen on a observe under? But in the event you can’t provide a extra real-life instance, philosophical hypothesis might seem idle. To counteract that false impression, I provide a narrative advised by a survivor of the Shoah that, whereas serving as a reminder of its horrors, additionally illustrates why fascinated by the function of a bystander as a prepare approaches can illuminate how we must always act within the face of unmitigated evil.

Close to the top of World Struggle II, prisoners in a single focus camp had been despatched on what was later termed a dying march to keep away from their being liberated. As they struggled to maintain transferring in a snowstorm, a Nazi guard handed a heavy bag to a prisoner and ordered him to hold it. The prisoner opened the bag, discovered meals, ate some, and distributed the rest to others. Upon seeing what had occurred, the guard halted the march and sought to punish the offender. Due, nevertheless, to the snow and the same clothes worn by all of the prisoners the Nazi was unable to find out who had opened the bag. He shouted that the perpetrator ought to establish himself, however when nobody did, the guard introduced that if the responsible get together didn’t confess, each tenth prisoner could be shot. As this punishment was about to be carried out, one prisoner stepped ahead and accepted duty. He was instantly killed, then the march continued. To today nobody is aware of whether or not the prisoner who took the blame was the responsible get together or as a substitute had sacrificed himself to save lots of the lives of quite a few others.

Now range the info barely. Suppose one prisoner identified by the guard to not have been the responsible get together took it upon himself to save lots of many lives by selecting one other prisoner at random and declaring that particular person responsible. Would the bystander’s motion, sacrificing one to save lots of many, have been morally flawed?

Whatever the reply, specializing in such a severe case serves as a reminder that whereas a trolley is for many of us a quaint picture and hypotheticals about altering its attainable path might seem fanciful, the underlying ethical dilemma is probably heartrending and all too sensible.

In sum, whereas I’m not proposing any resolution to the trolley drawback, I’m providing an instance which I hope contributes to college students recognizing that the problem shouldn’t be mere philosophical frivolity however a matter of main consequence for motion. That realization is a lesson in itself.