8/7/2019 Should You Kill the Fat Man

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4/4/11 3uld You Kill the Fat Man? - Analysis

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R e a l l y D e e p T h o u g h t

For I do not seek tounderstand that I may

believe, but I believe in

order to understand. Fo

this I believe -- that

unless I believe, I shoul

not understand.

--Saint Anselm.

F a c e b o o k

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Should You Kill the Fat Man? - Analysis

The scenarios featured in this activity have been constructed to elicit contrasting intuitions about whether

t is justified to end the life of one person in order to save the lives of some other greater number of

people.

Part of what is interesting here is what this tell us about consequenti alist approaches to moral thinking.

For example, straightforward utilitarianism, which holds that an act is morally right to the extent that it

maximises the sum total of happiness of all the people affected by it (when compared to the other

available options), would seem to require an affirmative response to allthe questions below. However,

we know from previous research that such a consensus is unlikely. In particular, very few people tend to

think that the fat man should be pushed off the bridge in order to save the lives ofthe five people stuck

on the track. The fact that this option is so counterintuitive to so ma ny people represents a significant

challenge to straightforward utilitarian thinking.

Here is a summary of the results obtained in this activity to date.

Your Responses

Is torture always wrong? Yes

Is morality about maximising total happiness? No

Is it always wrong to cause another person's death? Yes

Should you always save the lives of innocent people? No

Should Casey Jones divert the train? No

Should the fat man be pushed onto the track? No

Should the saboteur be pushed onto the track? No

Should the fat man be tortured? No

Overall Responses

Yes No

Should Casey Jones divert the train? 87% 13%

Should the fat man be pushed onto the track? 38% 62%

Should the saboteur be pushed onto the track? 74% 26%

Should the fat man be tortured? 74% 26%

Total responses: 55721

There is also an issue to do with consistency here. It is often thought to be a good thing if one's moral

choices are governed by a small number of consistently applied moral principles. If this is not the case,

then there is the worry that moral choices are essentially arbitrary - just a matter of intuition or making

t up as you go along. Suppose, for example, you think it is justified to divert the train in the first

scenario simply because it is the best way to maximise human happiness, but you do not think this

justification applies in the case of the fat man on the bridge. The problem here is that unless you're able

to identify morally relevant differences between the two scenarios, then it isn't clear what role the

justification plays in the first case. Put simply, it seems that the justification is neither necessary nor

sufficient for the moral judgement that it is right to divert the train.

Your Consistency Score

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8/7/2019 Should You Kill the Fat Man

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4/4/11 3uld You Kill the Fat Man? - Analysis

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The activities on this web site have been completed 219120 times.

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Check out In the Face of Death

Your moral consistency score is 100% (higher is better) Well done. This score suggests that you are

admirably consistent in the way you view morality. In fact, none of the people who have completed this

activity demonstrate greater moral consistency in their responses than you manage. But don't feel too

pleased with yourself. Most people don't think about morality very clearly!

Any Objections?

It's just about possible you don't agree with the analysis here! If not, before rushing to let us know,

please check to see whether we have dealt with your objection on our blog (this link takes you to a page

that features all the posts that have been made about this activity). You're much more likely to get a

response if you make your observations over there.

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