Should You Kill the Fat Man?

- Analysis 4/4/11 3:01 PM

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Should You Kill the Fat Man? - Analysis Really Deep Thought

The scenarios featured in this activity have been constructed to elicit contrasting intuitions about whether For I do not seek to
it is justified to end the life of one person in order to save the lives of some other greater number of understand that I may
people. believe, but I believe in
order to understand. For
Part of what is interesting here is what this tell us about consequentialist approaches to moral thinking. this I believe -- that
For example, straightforward utilitarianism, which holds that an act is morally right to the extent that it unless I believe, I should
maximises the sum total of happiness of all the people affected by it (when compared to the other not understand.
available options), would seem to require an affirmative response to all the questions below. However, --Saint Anselm.
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 of the five people stuck
on the track. The fact that this option is so counterintuitive to so many people represents a significant
challenge to straightforward utilitarian thinking.

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

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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
it 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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Should You Kill the Fat Man? - Analysis 4/4/11 3:01 PM

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.

Check out In the Face of Death

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

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