Activity 2

Name: Caasi, Julianne Marie N. Date: 02/24/2024

Section: B122MM
Schedule: W/S 11:30AM – 1:00PM
The Trolley Problem
The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics about a fictional scenario in which an
onlooker has the choice to save 5 people in danger of being hit by a trolley, by diverting the
trolley to kill just 1 person.

1. If you were in this situation, what would you do and why?

If I were in this situation, I would do nothing and look away. If I were to pull the lever, the blood
of another person is in my hands. I would become a murderer. Simply doing nothing just makes
me a witness. In this situation, I was not the cause of all of this so why should I interfere?
Although, the consequence of this action of mine would leave me getting eaten up by my guilt.

2. How does the trolley problem relate in real life?

The trolley problem applies to situations where you must decide and these decisions would both
result in a dilemma either way. An example would be in the emergency room. A doctor could save
5 patients who need different organs but murder 1 healthy person. An example that doesn’t
involve murder is when there is groupwork in class. In this scenario, you have been grouped with
5 of your other classmates and the closest friend you have. With the deadline closely approaching,
 you recently found out your friend hasn’t been doing their tasks at all. Do you confront your
friend and potentially harm your friendship or do their tasks instead and miss the deadline?

3. Share an experience similar to the trolley problem and how you were able to handle it.

Just like what I stated in the second question, I had a friend who I was grouped with in a
groupwork in class. They had told me that they were too busy with their errands and that they had
failed to tell me that they haven’t started on their tasks. In the end, I ended up doing both. I
confronted my friend after accomplishing their tasks. I had told them that they must tell me if
they couldn’t do it so that I could distribute the tasks to the other members who had free time.
Thankfully, there was time before the deadline and we had passed the groupwork on time.