The trolley problem, introduced by Philippa Foot in 1967 and elaborated by Judith Jarvis Thomson, is the most famous thought experiment in moral philosophy. A runaway trolley is heading toward five people. You can divert it to a side track where it will kill one person instead. Should you? Most people say yes. But what if instead of pulling a lever, you had to push a large man off a bridge to stop the trolley? Most people say no. Same arithmetic, different moral intuition. Why?
Opens a guided conversation. 5 turns for anonymous visitors.