Famous Philosophical Questions

[BTlaxripper]

VOTE ONE CHOICE FOR EACH QUESTION

Using 'stumbleupon' -- I came across these.

Question 1
One day, you wake up in hospital. In the nearby bed lies a world famous violinist who is connected to you with various tubes and machines. To your horror, you discover that you have been kidnapped by the Music Appreciation Society. Aware of the maestro's impending death, they hooked you up to the violinist. If you stay in the hospital bed, connected to the violinist, he will be totally cured in nine months. You are unlikely to suffer harm. No one else can save him. Do you have an obligation to stay connected?

Question 2
A runaway trolley car is hurtling down a track. In its path are five people who will definitely be killed unless you, a bystander, flip a switch which will divert it on to another track, where it will kill one person. Should you flip the switch?

Question 3
The runaway trolley car is hurtling down a track where it will kill five people. You are standing on a bridge above the track and, aware of the imminent disaster, you decide to jump on the track to block the trolley car. Although you will die, the five people will be saved. Results are indicative and may not reflect public opinion Just before your leap, you realise that you are too light to stop the trolley. Next to you, a fat man is standing on the very edge of the bridge. He would certainly block the trolley, although he would undoubtedly die from the impact. A small nudge and he would fall right onto the track below. No one would ever know. Should you push him?

Question 4
An enormous rock falls and blocks the exit of a cave you and five other tourists have been exploring. Fortunately, you spot a hole elsewhere and decide to let "Big Jack" out first. But Big Jack, a man of generous proportions, gets stuck in the hole. He cannot be moved and there is no other way out. The high tide is rising and, unless you get out soon, everyone but Big Jack (whose head is sticking out of the cave) will inevitably drown. Searching through your backpack, you find a stick of dynamite. It will not move the rock, but will certainly blast Big Jack out of the hole. Big Jack, anticipating your thoughts, pleads for his life. He does not want to die, but neither do you and your four companions. Should you blast Big Jack out?

[Formerlaxdemon]

Ha ha ha. I remember getting questions along these lines for a psychological examination I participated in for a friend's experiment.

Question 1: No. I get up and leave. Doom on him
Question 2: Flip the switch, kill the one. He'll get out of the way easier since he is b himself.
Question 3: Well you shouldn't push him, but lets face facts, altruism of this level is practically unheard of. I would not sacrifice myself in this situation and would NOT
jump off a bridge.
Question 4: Big Jack goes Boom!

In all honesty, none of these questions is realistic. Typically morbidly obese people like Jack do not tend to venture on spelunking expeditions. People with even a modicum of sanity and intelligence do not leap from bridges to block trolley/tram cars with their bodies. Only the wacked out crackhead will do that... or the mighty PCP man "knows" they have superpowers.

As for ye olde famous violist, I think some people who were in that situation might even take revenge on the violinist and kill him on the spot. Dark, but it is more possible than the bridge one.

[Frndlefire]

1: nine months is a long time...but world famous violinists make a crapton of money of which I am sure I would be given a sizeable sum
2:either way people are going to die, there are no other options. If you flip it you are directly causing the death of that one man to save the others, but one is better than more? If you don't flip it saying "I dont feel I could cause the death of someone" your inaction is still a fault because you allowed those five people to die when you had the ability to save them by flipping the swtich.
3: Don't push him, but under those circumstances he should be expected to jump himself.
4:Big Jack shouldn't whine. One persons life does not equal five. Big Jack go boom on own accord. same as 3

[Lax_Hitman]

1: You weren't asked you have no obligation
2: Ends don't justify means.
3: Ends don't justify means.
4: Ends don't justify means.

[Lockbox911]

1- just get up and leave
2-4 you cant kill someone just to save others. first it would be murder, but other than that its not on you to determine who deserves to die and who lives.

[LoyolaMiddie878]

Question 1 -- There is no way in hell I am laying in that bed for nine months.
Question 2 -- Flip the switch. One is better than five. And like FLD said, the
one has a better chance of getting out of the way than the five
do.
Question 3 -- There is no way that you should push the fat man. There is also
no way that you should jump in front of the trolley.
Question 4 -- Blow a hole with the dynamite somewhere away from Big Jack and
then get out and help him get out from the outside.

[marflax33]

Question 4 -- Blow a hole with the dynamite somewhere away from Big Jack and then get out and help him get out from the outside.

The dynamite is not enough to blow the rock away. It can only remove Big Jack :(

[mmlax123]

for q1, by no means are you obligated because they kidnapped you...but it would certainly be nice of you to help the man out ;)

[riddlebox]

my dad said he would leave, because he hates violinists, and for big jack, he said he would blow him away just for the entertainment!!

[laxin21]

1) I would leave, i didnt want to help out the violinest have one of the music people on that machine
2) I would not flip the switch, its not right to intervene, odds are the people on the track are commiting suicide or are all murderers (not really, but just to make you feel bad if you killed the one)
3) I would not push the man, its not right to kill someone just to save others, espcially because the person is not expecting it, ask the man if he felt like being a hero
4) I would give the dynamite to someone else, but i would not do it myself

[BTlaxripper]

Here are my answers:
1) I would leave. They don't get to decide what I get to do with my life.
2) I would flip the switch, even though it would seem like I killed the person, doing nothing would kill the 5 people as well (in essence) -- so if I don't flip the switch, I'm killing 5; if I flip it, I'm killing 1. And I'm no murderer so I'd rather only take 1 life.
3) I would not push the man. It's weird, but flipping the switch I have no problem with -- but pushing an unsuspecting man into a situation to be a hero without his opinion isn't right. It just seems different for some reason.
4) Die fat man die

[Garor]

1. You don't have an obligation to stay. But you could be convinced to stay if there was a large amount of money in it.
2. Play god and flip the switch. The needs of five people outweigh the needs of one person.
3. If lardo wants to be a hero let him. But you can't force him to jump.
4. Blow him up. Same as two.

[TweeK]

1) I would stay, the man needs help and that society has taken desperate mesures to help him. Afterwards since hes famous you might get a little reward out of it too.

2)This question I am unable to answer as no one should be aloud/able to make that decision. No person has the right to send someone to his death for others, that is up to his own decision. If the one man sees the situation and tells you to flip the switch, flip it, if not, faith has sent the train towards those five people. This is the same situation as if someone asked you if would be able to kill a little girl to save thousands of other people.

3) Once again this is the same thing as #2, it is up to him.

4)And once again I am stuck with the same awnser, that it is up to the fat mans decision.

[shooter]

1. No obligation. I might choose to stay, but i certainly don't have to.
2. Flip the switch.
3. Don't push him.
4. Doctors have always said being fat is bad for your health and it could kill you, Jack should have gone on a diet years ago, he didn't, 5 others shouldn't die because of his sweet tooth. He's gone.

[Farny]

Aside from the first, these are all, "The end justifies the means" questions. They're also basically "Doing a small evil to do a greater good."

I've been struggling with this for a long time, but the Catholic faith teaches that the ends do not justify the means, and therefore one cannot alter things and do something considered evil, even if it will result in something good. As a result, I ended up picking all the minority options.

EDIT: It looks like Lax_Hitman already pointed out the Ends don't justify the means, and things just have to be played out naturally.

[houlax901]

wait, so you guys would just let someone die, even if you could help it? i think saving a human life is worth losing 9 months. Too many conflicting thoughts about the other ones, but my answer to the first one is definite.

[shooter]

wait, so you guys would just let someone die, even if you could help it? i think saving a human life is worth losing 9 months. Too many conflicting thoughts about the other ones, but my answer to the first one is definite.

The question is not "would you stay 9 months and help". It is simply whether you are obligated to.

Both morally (in my view) and legally, you are not.

Whether you would stay and help is an entirely different question.

[ohlax51]

The question is not "would you stay 9 months and help". It is simply whether you are obligated to.

Both morally (in my view) and legally, you are not.

Whether you would stay and help is an entirely different question.

If I had the chance to save a human life i would, period.

[shooter]

If I had the chance to save a human life i would, period.
I'm not saying I wouldn't, but you're not obligated to in that situation.

[LinkPlaysLax]

For question 4, wouldn't big jack end up dying anyway because he is stuck in that hole, and eventually he would starve or something. So just blow him up and get it over with sooner, and hey!, save some lives while you're at it.

[ekajsk8er]

1. I would leave. I'd feel bad about the guy, but I'd still leave.
2. Yes you should flip the switch. 5 vs. 1, it's a bad situation to be in, but you had to do it to save others.
3. ehh, if you nudged him and nobody knew it would be murder in my eyes. He would have to have said it was alright before i did anything.
4. He's going to die either way, mine as well save yourself as well as the others, and give them a little fireworks show.

[BClax17]

1. I'd definetly stay... long enough for the cops to come arrest them for kidnapping!

2. If you flip the switch just at the right time the trolly would fly of the tracks missing both parties.

3. Lets say there was a very strong wind...

4. I can swim.

[exile lacrosse]

4. I can swim.

but can you breathe underwater for an indefinite period of time?

for question one, if they had asked me i would have done it. being kidnapped, i would have to put more thought into leaving or not. possibly negotiating some exchange of money and a share in some of his royalties.

questions 2, im sure im thinking way to far into this, but is it a family of five in the way, and then a 90 year old man on the other side? if thats the case, id save the family, whose three children have their entire lives infront of them and the old man has already lived his.

question 3 is just rediculous, i dont think anyone can stop a runaway trolly car that is in a state of "hurtling." but i wouldnt push the fat man, maybe id ask him if he would like to save them or something. who knows, maybe the reason hes standing very close to the edge of the bridge is because hes a jumper anyway.

question four: keep trying to pull big jack in until the last possible moment, and then only when it is absolutely neccesary blow him up. if hes so big he would probably die of a heart attack within a few years anyway.

[lax4life6]

question four- you have to blow up big jack. if you dont he's gonna die along with the rest of you anyways. so its better to save a few lives if u can