Syd_Barret
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2001
- Messages
- 794
Ok, so you're jsut trying to say that the doctor scenario is a transplantation of the train scenario?
its supposed to be the same correct?
its supposed to be the same correct?
The man tied to the tracks is assumed to be unharmed if we do not kill him. So, though he is tied to the tracks, he is in no danger, and can essentially be seen as an innocent bystander. He may be vulnerable to having a train diverted over him, but no more than the man on the street is vulnerable to abduction by rogue surgeons.Death is a certain outcome for the people on the tracks in the trolley problem..
and I know you can apply the same logic to the doctor scenario.. but theres something about the idea of having to find an unknown innocent bystander, kill him, and take his organs in order to save the 3.
The man tied to the tracks is assumed to be unharmed if we do not kill him. So, though he is tied to the tracks, he is in no danger, and can essentially be seen as an innocent bystander. He may be vulnerable to having a train diverted over him, but no more than the man on the street is vulnerable to abduction by rogue surgeons.
but it's arbitrary and has no real world application, relevance or purpose.
these weaknesses are applicable and of relevance to any real world issue where the type of reasoning is employed,
it has a theoretical purpose. they serve as an attempt to reveal and explore the different (many times unspoken) decision-making systems we do employ in the real world. especially the weaknesses of some ways of reasoning are of interest. one of the goals of this one is to reveal the foremost weakness of ethical calculus. these weaknesses are applicable and of relevance to any real world issue where the type of reasoning is employed, and where these (fundamental) weaknesses may be far less apparent/transparant.
And if you think that a scenario has never ocurred in human existance such that the scenario was Either Save X lives (x being more than 1) or save Y lives (y being less than X).............
I can think of several.
Think terrorists.
Think abortion.
Think battlefield in any war.
i'm willing to discover some value in it, if it would only be explained. just claiming that some clever people like employing it is not really enough, you know?
the options under those scenario are immeasurable. the simplistic 2 choice scenario is what i see no value in. if anything i see that it encourages UNcreativity and rash (ill informed) decision making.