Opening page…
Five lives or one?
A runaway trolley will kill five people. You can switch it onto a track where it will kill one. Do you pull the lever—and would your answer change if you had to push that person instead?
A classic test of whether saving more lives can justify making one person the means. Explain the difference you think matters.
Your answer
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A little context
In survey after survey, most people asked about the lever say they would pull it: one death instead of five. Far fewer say they would push a large stranger off a footbridge to stop the trolley with his body, though the arithmetic is identical. The interesting part isn't only which answer is right. It's what you think changed.
Nearby questions
- Does nature matter for its own sake?Picture a forest that vanishes without a single person or animal ever noticing or suffering.
- Is it wrong to eat animals?The animal on your plate could feel pain and fear. If you had to kill it yourself, you would find out what you really think.
- Can a deal be unfair if both sides agree to it?A desperate person accepts poverty wages, or sells a kidney, because every other option is worse. They chose it, and it may still be exploitation.
- The coin flipTwo drivers leave the same party equally drunk. A child runs into the road in front of one, who kills the child; the other gets home without hurting anyone. Do they deserve different blame?
- Do the ends justify the means?Sometimes the only way to stop something terrible is to do something terrible yourself. Even then, your hands are not quite clean.
