Utilitarianism: The Trolley Problem

 by Fola Odofin

The definition of utilitarianism is the greater good for the greater number. For example, in the Brexit vote, people had the choice to stay or to leave the EU; because the majority voted to leave, the government implemented it as it will bring happiness to the greater number.

Another example is The Trolley problem, a common utilitarian problem. Here is a quick video explaining the problem:

In a 2009 survey, 69.9% of philosophers would switch, sacrifice one to save five lives 8% while 24% could not answer.  The answer to the question is based on your ethics and morals. The question became more difficult if the only way was to push off a person. A deontological reasons might be to not push the man off the bridge as it is murder. Another variation of the question can be: if the one person on the other track was your friend, a parent or an idol, would you still pull the lever? I wanted to find out myself, so I went around my year group asking people for their opinions.

10 people said that they would pull the switch to kill the one person; however when it came to pull the switch to kill someone you love, 10 said to kill the 5 strangers. One person that I asked said” I wouldn’t pull the switch as when the police tell the families they would know that  it was an accident, but if I pull the switch, the police would tell the family it was purposely done to save other people’s lives.” There is no right or wrong answer to the question but it is interesting to listen to other people‘s thoughts and opinions. What would you do?