Trolley problem and Utilitarianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Trolley problem and Utilitarianism - Essay Example If consequences are all that matter then the Trolley Problem won’t matter much to a utilitarian, but, few would argue that it raises some serious difficulties with the said moral philosophy. 2) The Trolley Problem presents a utilitarian with a predicament. A train is coming; its current course is going to kill four hapless workers. You, the utilitarian, have the power to flick a switch that will save the four men, but you will as a result kill some other worker as the train will be diverted to his track. Most utilitarian thinkers would not have a problem with doing this. One life is worth sacrificing for four; the end justifies the means-consequences are all that matter, after all. But, if there wasn’t a switch, and instead a very large man, large enough to stop the train, was standing over a bridge in front of the workers, would you be prepared to push him in front of the train to save the four of them? If consequences are all that matter, then this is exactly what the utilitarian would have to do: commit murder. 3) John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism posits that the right action is that action which generates or leads to the most utility or happiness (utilitarianism.com). He begins though by stating that whatever action that is proved to be good, must be proved to be good by its ability to achieve something that is good in itself (utilitarianism.com). ... He argues that human rights are protected through a judicial system only as a means of securing happiness (utilitarianism.com). Happiness is the primary pursuit of man, and the principle of utility is, by definition, the most direct path to it. To Mills the utility principle is a natural social sentiment between humans and that human society would bond and benefit greatly from embedding utilitarianism into it foundations (utilitarianism.com). The responsibility of an individual in this kind of society is to make as much utility for as many people as possible even if that means sacrificing or endangering themselves for the good of others (utilitarianism.com). Any one person is not allowed to value his happiness over the happiness of others. 4) There are several difficulties with utilitarianism. Most importantly, it places too much emphasis on the consequences of actions. If we were to make all of our decisions based on our expected outcomes of events, how are we to feel about those de cisions if we are so often wrong in our predictions? This point is intended to raise doubt; simple doubt in the primary means of divining decision-making for the utilitarian. Furthermore, the Trolley Problem would make even the most hard-nosed kind of utilitarian reconsider their position, because it takes their principle of utility to a point where it condones murder. Most people would have serious trouble pushing a large man to his death to stop a train from killing four other people. What this says is that humans have some other moral codes or ideas about common decency that is disagreeable to strict utilitarianism. So thinking only in consequences might not be the answer for every occasion; we have to temper the principle with other ethics. There is another weakness