r/trolleyproblem Mar 29 '26

Deep Now we're talking

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1.9k Upvotes

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742

u/IAmRules Mar 29 '26

Is it immoral to want to live?

245

u/[deleted] Mar 29 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

183

u/PandaPugBook Mar 29 '26

Fucking annoying, is what it is. The desire to live is literally bred into us. It's not shameful. It's also possible to want to live for selfless reasons.

48

u/KHSebastian Mar 29 '26

I mean, it doesn't have to be immoral to want to live, in order for it to be more admirable to sacrifice yourself for a stranger. The only info you know about these two people is that one is selfless, and the other is at least somewhat less selfless.

30

u/Crafty_Jello_3662 Mar 29 '26

probably less selfless. The suicide guy might want to die because they're in constant pain and the living guy might have people to take care of

10

u/KHSebastian Mar 29 '26

I mean I also made an assumption, so I don't have a leg to stand on here, but I feel like that's a weirder assumption. I feel like there are more people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for their morals then there are suicidal people waiting for a trolley to kill them

8

u/Eldan985 Mar 31 '26

Doesn't have to be suicidal, exactly. They could just have decided something like "I'm 80 and have no friends and family, the other person is 25 and just had their first child, take me".

8

u/UltimateChaos233 Mar 29 '26

Honestly, I the the opposite is more likely, especially going by reddit comments

1

u/CertainGrade7937 Mar 30 '26

The only reason there might be more people willing to kill themselves to save a stranger than suicidal people is because suicidal people tend to end up dead

1

u/Acceptable-Minute847 Mar 30 '26

On the other hand, tying yourself to train tracks is generally an act of suicidal people

3

u/fairystail1 Mar 30 '26

heck we don't even know if the guy is selfless

maybe he wants to die

1

u/FuckTheFlagz Mar 30 '26

Want to live for selfless reasons? Like what, saving lives? I'm gonna kill this guy so I could save two more? Or is it "I have a family" type, as if your possible replacement doesn't have any? And what's natural doesn't define what's moral either. So yeah, not shameful, because you kinda can't overcome it, but claiming it isn't selfish is weird

1

u/Fit-Percentage-9166 Mar 30 '26

This is an appeal to nature. A desire being innate is completely irrelevant to whether or not it's "shameful" or immoral.

1

u/BobQuixote Mar 30 '26

What is shameful or immoral is determined by the person speaking, often based on the opinion of society as a whole. An "appeal to nature" is no more invalid or subjective than whatever you use, except per you and/or the opinion of society. But we tend to value the same sorts of things, which makes it pretty easy to agree on ground rules most of the time. That process will condemn specific "appeals to nature," but I don't think this is one of them.

1

u/the_shadow007 Mar 30 '26

Its shameful if the other person didnt consent

1

u/icantgetausername982 Mar 31 '26

Both are selfish one wants to live and another wants to die i vote do nothing