Trolley Cars, Redux
Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2024 8:50 pm
I am a regular reader of The Reframe by A. R. Moxon. That’s not because I enjoy his pieces or they make me feel comfortable in my beliefs and opinions. Just the opposite — his pieces often make me feel very uncomfortable and force me to rethink issues that I’d prefer not to think about.
Today’s piece revisits the classic trolley car problem. Here’s how it opens:
It’s a long piece as are all of his pieces, I’ll leave it to folks who are interested to go though the details of his argument. But what impacted me the most was thinking about myself as being on the trolley casting my vote when the result will certainly be run over by the trolley.
For the TL/DR, we can go straight to his description of a fourth person:
Today’s piece revisits the classic trolley car problem. Here’s how it opens:
You see, the funny thing about trolley car problems is that the people pulling the levers are not the people lying on the tracks. Using the trolley problem as a springboard, Moxon goes on to discuss issues of complicity, responsibility and excuses in the context of casting a vote.The trolley had arrived and the people had their levers. The people were tied to the tracks. The levers, if pulled in sufficient majority, would change the course of the trolley to kill fewer people. If not pulled, it would kill more. It would kill many either way.
The first person stood by the lever and pulled it. I am not to blame for the people the trolley runs over, they said, because more people would have died if I had not.
The second person stood by the lever and did not pull it. I am not to blame for the people the trolley runs over, they said, because I did not pull the lever.
The third person demolished the lever and the control panel. I am not to blame for the people the trolley runs over, they said, because the lever itself was corrupt.
As the trolley pulled forward, all three, who were riding onboard, loudly argued among themselves about which of them was most to blame for the death, within earshot of those tied to the tracks.
It’s a long piece as are all of his pieces, I’ll leave it to folks who are interested to go though the details of his argument. But what impacted me the most was thinking about myself as being on the trolley casting my vote when the result will certainly be run over by the trolley.
For the TL/DR, we can go straight to his description of a fourth person:
https://www.the-reframe.com/out-damned-spot/A fourth person, standing by their lever, heard them arguing. The fourth person pulled their lever and then climbed down from the trolley, lay down on the tracks directly before its wheels, and waited. I'm sorry, they called out to the others tied there with them. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.