Question for all to answer

[longtooth_wolf]

please everyone answer this honestly. I'm sure many of you are already aware of this. Don't think. Just answer

Comments

[writer_chick84]

I would save the five people in either case. Saving five people is better than saving one person.
Why do I feel like I'm going to hell?

[sweetlikepie]

I'd probably do nothing.

[icing_heart]

Me, too.

[legolilz]

For me, it really would depend on whether the five people were children and the one person was an adult. I feel like I would safe the children if at all possible. If all involved were adults, I think I would do nothing.

[denerific]

At first glance it's a simple problem: 5 > 1, so I'd hit the switch or push the obese man. In my imagination it's not a problem for me to use reason to make that judgement and act upon it.
Now, the difficulty creeps in when you remove it from the mental realm. Making such complex judgements in the heat of the moment is really hard, and I suspect that if I was face with those situations in real life, I would hesitate and miss the window of opportunity. Additionally, my general pacifism is such that I would hesitate longer before pushing the man than I would before hitting the switch, even though I recognize that both actions are morally equal.

[fantasykat]

I don't think both actions are morally equal. In the case of the switch, the one person who would die might choose to save himself if he could, but it's also possible (in theory at least) that if it were his choice to make he would sacrifice himself willingly to save the others. I personally would not hit the switch, but I can see where someone who did might not consider it murder, since there's a chance that it wasn't against the will of the one who died