PROFESSOR:

PROFESSOR:

Ethical philosophers often come up with hypothetical situations to test their ethical
theories.These situations are commonly called 'ethical dilemmas'.One of the most famous
dilemmas tests utilitarian ethics and is called the trolley problem.Imagine a trolley car, like
the kind they have in San Francisco.It's moving along the tracks, heading downhill ...
Further downhill there's a junction.The trolley is heading straight downhill, towards five
people who have been tied to the track by a mad professor.The trolley will surely hit them
soon.On the section of track leading from the junction there is one person tied to the
track, you have the junction switch.If you push it, you will save the five people, but the
person on the other track will be killed, if you don't push it, that person will be saved, but
the other five will die.What would you do?Jeremy Bentham and the Utilitarian's would say
that it makes perfect sense to kill the one person in order to save the five.Other people
may say that not pushing the switch is the better option, in order to avoid being partly to
blame for something that is morally wrong.It's certainly a very tricky decision to
make.What would you do?Would you kill five people to save one or one person to save
five?

Los filósofos éticos a menudo idean situaciones hipotéticas para poner a prueba sus
teorías éticas.These situations are commonly called 'ethical dilemmas'.One of the most
famous dilemmas tests utilitarian ethics and is called the trolley problem.Imagine a trolley
car, like the kind they have in San Francisco.It's moving along the tracks, heading
downhill ... Further downhill there's a junction.The trolley is heading straight downhill,
towards five people who have been tied to the track by a mad professor.The trolley will
surely hit them soon.On the section of track leading from the junction there is one person
tied to the track, you have the junction switch.If you push it, you will save the five people,
but the person on the other track will be killed, if you don't push it, that person will be
saved, but the other five will die.What would you do?Jeremy Bentham and the
Utilitarian's would say that it makes perfect sense to kill the one person in order to save
the five.Other people may say that not pushing the switch is the better option, in order to
avoid being partly to blame for something that is morally wrong.It's certainly a very tricky
decision to make.What would you do?Would you kill five people to save one or one
person to save five?