• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Having to choose between killing one or five people: am I missing something?

Schrödinger's Name

Blessed With A Curse
Joined
Jul 20, 2019
Messages
1,693
Thinking about this 'issue'... Would the person who pulled the lever get convicted of murder?

It still baffles me that the majority says they would pull the lever. I wonder what it says about their conscience. Do they have a lower awareness or conscience of guilt when it comes to their own actions (combined with a catalyst)? Why don't they feel as a part of the scene even though they are the ones who intervene and decide over someone else's fate?

But it's a hypothetical situation, right. In some way I hate hypothetical questions like 'would you push the button', 'would you rather be blind or deaf',... You most likely (and hopefully) won't ever have to make such a hard decision. In reality I think most people wouldn't dare to touch the lever. It's easy to imagine doing such thing, but that's all it is; imagination. (Though you could bring the Milgram experiment into this... There are questions about the validity of the experiment. -And the traumatized people after they realized they would have killed someone if the person receiving the electric shocks was real-)
 
Top