Thread: Runaway Train Dilemma

It's redundant to say there's no such thing as objective right and wrong. All I said was I think it's wrong and I think most would agree.

My post is clearly a response to cmind... the intuition pump I presented was in accordance with what you were saying.

Originally Posted by Wayfaerer

I'm sorry I said the word stupid. What I meant was that adult humans standing on train tracks should be able to help themselves, if they don't, something's wrong with them not specified in the OP.

I said "or something." The word "stupid" doesn't matter. You obviously aren't supposed to think that something's wrong with the people. The situation is hypothetical. Consider it exactly as it's brought up with nothing added.

It's like, if I asked you to think about the geometry of a triangle and the fact that the angles add to 180 degrees, and you were to disagree because there's no such thing as a perfect 'triangle'. In real life the angles never really add to exactly 180 degrees, so you might say we can't conclude that it does. But that's obviously wrong. While thinking about a triangle, we're imagining some hypothetical plane of reality in which a perfect triangle exists, even though it doesn't in real life. While thinking about the train, we're imagining some hypothetical reality in which people are standing on the tracks and can't move and you've just appeared in the situation, all for no reason in particular, even though that wouldn't happen in real life.

Assuming they can't move is adding something to the OP even more unlikely though. The thought experiment would be valid to reality if the people were irreversibly tied down, that wouldn't be overly idealized. I was referring to an overly idealized question I was asked in a class, which was "If you were in a Jewish family hiding from Nazis in a hidden cellar or something, and you had a child who didn't know not to cry, would you strangle it to death to save everyone in there?" I didn't believe you would have to do that lol.

Lol well of course not - you could stab it!! Or just tear out its vocal chords.

So are you asking Dianeva to refine the question?

Originally Posted by Wayfaerer

Assuming they can't move is adding something to the OP even more unlikely though. The thought experiment would be valid to reality if the people were irreversibly tied down, that wouldn't be overly idealized. I was referring to an overly idealized question I was asked in a class, which was "If you were in a Jewish family hiding from Nazis in a hidden cellar or something, and you had a child who didn't know not to cry, would you strangle it to death to save everyone in there?" I didn't believe you would have to do that lol.

I don't understand how this is a response to what I said, but w/e, I'm really tired. The one you brought up is interesting. I think that the child should be killed, if that were the only option. If the Nazis catch the family, the child will be killed anyway, along with everyone else. I don't know how anyone could choose otherwise. It would be difficult, sure, and I don't know if I'd even be able to go through with it, but it would be the correct option, in my opinion. This is all opinion.