Timeline for answer to The Trolley’s Sixth Victim and the Invisible Killer. Are we solving the wrong problem? by Lawrence Patriarca
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 23 at 13:28 | comment | added | mudskipper | The trolley problem is not entirely worthless, imo. One thing it may reveal (even in its contrived form) is that most people do "intuitively" seem to find it worse to actively shove an extra big person in front of the trolley, even if that's the only way to save > 1 persons. But even there the problem is not worth much, since what someone in that situation should be asking themselves is: Should I sacrifice myself? | |
| Jan 23 at 13:20 | comment | added | mudskipper | @MatthieuM. - Medical triage is a far better situation to think about. Due to dire circumstance and limited resources, people then need to make hard decisions (they have no choice about that). It would be much and much better if philosophers would study that, interview medical professionals, look at training materials and actual training, see what the psychological issues are, etc etc and then start propounding ethical arguments. | |
| Jan 23 at 12:17 | comment | added | Matthieu M. | @mudskipper I mean, if you want a realistic situation... what do you think about triage? In case of a large-scale catastrophe, with many (more) victims than there are ambulances/doctors available, triage will occur to sort out the victims. The Red Cross uses colors: green => only suffers minor injuries (no need to involve a doctor), red => requires urgent care, black => hopeless. There's a training for Red Cross volunteers where they learn to use their judgment to pick green/red/black. Black is typically a death sentence. | |
| Jan 23 at 3:25 | comment | added | Seth Robertson | Even worse for this case, civilian medical personnel typically have a duty of care. Once they respond, they are responsible for an ailing person until they refuse care or are delivered to a hospital (or similar). There are of course edge cases, but this is not one of them once they started transport. If they stopped, they could be charged with a crime. | |
| Jan 22 at 23:48 | comment | added | mudskipper | The Trolley Problem is contrived and morally repugnant because of its stupid abstraction. | |
| Jan 22 at 23:46 | comment | added | Michael W. | @mudskipper Of course it's a contrived situation, but so is the Trolley Problem. | |
| Jan 22 at 23:45 | comment | added | mudskipper | There is no moral dilemma in this case. You are setting up a kind of strawman moral argument. In any actual situation the ambulance drivers would not be able to know they could potentially save 2 lives. It would simply be their duty to continue to the hospital (and try to call another ambulance). | |
| Jan 21 at 15:18 | history | answered | Lawrence Patriarca | CC BY-SA 4.0 |