Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, April 4, 2013

14-2 Judith Jarvis Thomson

We all know what we would do if we could throw a switch and kill one person to save five. But, what if you had to push that one person in front of that trolley to save those five people? This is something Thomson asked of the classic question. By having a more personal involvement, people may change their answer.

Our groups had various answers that range from no to throwing themselves in front of that trolley in self-sacrifice. There were several questions if this act would be considered evil because of pushing one person to his death. Perception of evil was another question. Because the one who pushes know what they’re doing is not evil, will everybody see that greater good?

Another question that was discussed was non-consensus surgery that hooks a violinist up to another person. That question precented the real question about abortion. If a mother took all precautions to prevent pregnancy, does she still have duty to carry that baby to term?

All these question seem to lack enough information to make an informed discussion. Something else that was brought up was these questions are difficult to answer unless we are in that situation.

Anyway, comment away group 2

6 comments:

  1. I had a real hard time trying to grasp the idea of saving others by pushing someone else in front of the train. However, after some time contemplating this idea, I came to the conclusion that you should do as much as you can but not to throw someone else in front of it for selfish reasons or any other reason. I think it mentioned that if you pulled the lever one way or the other then that was playing God (I believe I read that, but I could be completely wrong). I do not think someone should decide whether or not to let 5 people die or 1 person die. This is really hard to decide, but I think that I would not want to pull the lever either way. If somehow it was possible to safely derail the train without anyone getting hurt then that is what I would choose!

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  2. I feel like most people don't think about the fact that this one person or these 5 people could be anyone. It's easy just to say you would pull the lever, but what if the people you would kill have some sort of relationship with you? S many questions can be asked such as, are you to blame if you choose not to interfere. I believe not.

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  3. This was a good conversation because, we can say all we want too about having to kill or not kill, but in reality we don't know what would happen until we're put into that kind of situation. If someone is close to us and the other is a family member, how could we decide then? So to me I don't know what I'd do,but if needed I'll pull the lever.

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  4. I feel like I would most likely either throw someone off of the train or even myself. The questions that were being discussed I believe that I would have to be in the situation to determine how I would act.

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  5. Dr. Oliver discussing in our group about the nazi party occupying Germany, a question popped in my head, if the bible says that a christian should obey the law of the land, so would it be a sin to go against the law and join in the holocaust?

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  6. Tony Spelta1:06 PM CDT

    I would like to believe that I would throw myself off the train but I honestly don't know what I would do in that situation. I do not think that anyone truly knows what they would do in any stressful situation without them actually being in the situation.

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