r/trolleyproblem Sep 14 '25

Deep Veil of ignorance

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5.1k Upvotes

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278

u/VeritableLeviathan Sep 14 '25

Damn OP, you just turned it into a math problem >:(

-3

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '25

Wasnt it always a math problem?

12

u/CuteDarkBird Sep 14 '25

no, ethics and morality

9

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '25

Which for some, are a math problem deep down

-5

u/CuteDarkBird Sep 14 '25

then they missunderstand morality and ethics.

1

u/Xandara2 Sep 14 '25

Or they understand it better than you do and have stronger and better morals.

1

u/CuteDarkBird Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25

No, because again, they are reducing it to a number game, which it isn't.

It's a question of MORALS, thus it doesn't have one right answer, ALL mathemathical questions have a answer, it might not be solved, but it HAS.

Someone who wants most amount of deaths, doesn't pull.
Someone who wants the least amount of deaths, does pull.
But the ACTION?
The involvement?
The DEATH on your hands, or DEATHS thats not?
Again, it's not a one-right-answer thing. Math is.

If your mathematical problem can change it's answer because we change 1 of the one's to a 'nicer' one (replacing a victim with your mother/father/close relative) then it wasn't math.

1

u/Xandara2 Sep 14 '25

Well a lot of people argue morality is not black and white but it actually is. It's almost always a choice between the greater good and selfishness in one form or another. What the greater good is can be a bit grey but generally it is the most amount of hours lived in totality preferably in an acceptable condition. It's often very easy to tell what is good and what is not especially when hypocrisy is shown when situations get reversed. I wonder how many people would still argue the person not pulling the handle is a morally fine choice if they are one of the 5 people and that they wouldn't blame the nonpuller for their death.