Would you kill a person to save lives ?
When i heard about the word “Utilitarianism” I remember the thought experiment trolley
scenerio. Have you heard it before? Or does it ring a bell to you? In this problem scenario, it
involves you as a bystander and a five people on the other side of the track and one person on the
opposite track. The trolley is hurtling towards the the five people working on the tracks. You as a
bystander, have an option to leave the trolley run its course, or turn the switch to another track
where one person is standing. The only way to save the lives of the five workers is to divert the
trolley onto another track that only has one worker on it. If you divert the trolley onto the other
track, this one worker will die, but the other five workers will be saved. Although, there is no
really an answer to this because it’s subjective and cannot be satisfactoraly solved, some people
will choose to sacrifice one person to save many lives. Are you agree with that too? I believe that
in any way it’s not acceptable to kill any person. But this trolley problem scenario happens in
reality. The society especially the government promote the greatest happiness of the greatest
number. They value the common good. Five lives saved is better than one life saved so in this
context it is the right thing to do to switch the track to the one person standing. Thus, it will bring
us such dilemma of engaging in such a cruel act of killing a person, but our actions bring a great
happiness for all. In this philosophy, achieving the greater good is more important than
sacrificing one’s honor. A person should judge the right and wrong action based in their
consequences. We all have different moral intuitions and sometimes, in a situation like these, we
must learn to abandon and create a greater good for all. Because there will be the time that we
must make a decision that could result to a life changing one. Would you be still maintaining
your integrity or choose what’s best for the common good. The pain that is being inflicted in the
minority justified by bringing the great happiness and outnumbering the the wrongful actions
therefore, becoming a right action. In other words, maximizing the good and minimizing the
bad. Even though it might be justified but taking that person's life is never moral. Murder is
murder regardless of any circumstances, the victim, or the person being saved. Ultimately, taking
a life is what happens when you kill even one person, and it is never acceptable. Nobody has the
right to take another man’s life. Taking of human life has been strongly criticized by most world
religions. From a religious perspective, murdering another human being is an offense against
God. For Christians, they do not participate in any murderous acts or attitudes. Instead, they
uphold the Bible’s teaching of the sanctity of life and seek to glorify Christ in every
circumstance. God forbids murder and emphasizes the value of human life. In our country, we
have a law that is, every human being has the right to live. The right to life is the belief that a
human being or animal has the right to live and, in particular, should not be killed by another
being. We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and security. The right to life is a
moral principle and it is based on the belief that every person has the right to live and should not
be killed by other people.
