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RE: Do You Really Know the Difference Between Right and Wrong? Chances Are You Don't.
So how do you deal with the Trolley Problem?
Secondly, you argue that irrationality is the source of all ethical violations. How do you deal with the Prisoner's Dilemma?
There's a situation where lack of communication constrains and prevents a presumed rational outcome for both. Yet isn't the irrational for both also the rational for each person individually?
Are there not irrational choices that generate rational outcomes after the fact? Or is this a purely utilitarian universe?
The trolley problem always cracks me up. I've come to call it the clusterfu#% problem. There is no right answer. There's a long string of incompetence required to get into that situation. Why are these people on the track in the first place? Did the company know work was being done? You would think so since they're paying for it. Why didn't they inform the engineer, change schedules etc? If this fat guy is big enough to stop a train, the little dude isn't going to be able to move him. Was he airlifted there that morning by a chinook? Now we have a conspiracy on our hands. And what kind of pedestrian crossing could hold that kind of mass? It's just physics man:) If we are talking about gross negligence of all parties involved, no wrong has been done here. It's just an accident. If not, someone allowed one of the dominoes to fall on purpose and the simple ethical rule in the article applies. They are wrong. And what to do with the poor guy left to make the awful decision? I don't know man. Sucks to be you. Again, clusterfu#%.
The Prisoner's dilemma: See the chaos that results from stealing? This problem needs to be cut off at the root. They should have never gone to jail in the first place. Obviously they did something wrong or they wouldn't be in this situation unless the cops are corrupt in which case they are in the wrong and this mess results. There is nothing wrong with selfishness. Modern society has given it a negative connotation. If you're truly selfish, you would always do the right thing because it's the most beneficial to you. True selfishness is ethically doing whats best for you which is what most of us do anyway. I say most because we have government and criminals who don't, but I repeat myself. Its only a wrong when you're stealing something from someone else; time, property, information etc.
So you respond to the Trolley Problem by stepping outside the boundaries of it as a thought experiment and imposing real-world constraints. Instead of dealing with its implications. You've got the same problem with the Prisoner's Dilemma.
Both of these are commonly assigned in undergraduate theory classes. And I don't think the answer you provide here would pass muster. Regardless, thanks for the reply.