The Runaway Train

1. Sincerely, yes, since it would be preferable to save five individuals rather than just one. I made
the decision to save more lives since, in my opinion, one life is very essential and valuable, and
five lives were worth more than one. It was a big sacrifice on my part knowing that the person
on the second ravine may save more lives when they asked me to redirect the rushing train.

2. For myself, the answer is "yes." I'll direct the train to the second ravine because I admire the
decision of the lone person who was willing to give their life to save others. I would assume that
if the train had hit the five people, it would have caused a great deal of damage and that many
of the families would be devastated by what had happened.

3. Yes I would still divert the train. The only way to save the lives of the five convicted criminals is
to divert the train onto another track that only has one cancer specialist on it. Utilitarianism
specifies that saving more of the workers will amount to the greatest good; hence, it is morally
permissible to kill one in order to save five. To have self-respect, one must be moral (or good).
Happiness depends on having respect for oneself. And only those who are capable of doing
accurate and fair self-evaluations can possess self-knowledge. And the only individuals who can
conduct a just and fair self-evaluation are good, moral individuals.