《公正该如何做是好》第一课.docx

《公正该如何做是好》第一课.docx

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《公正该如何做是好》第一课

Thisisacourseaboutjusticeandwebeginwithastory.Supposeyou'rethedriverofatrolleycar,andyourtrolleycarishurtlingdownthetrackat60milesanhour.Andattheendofthetrack,younoticefiveworkersworkingonthetrack.Youtrytostopbutyoucan't,yourbrakesdon'twork.Youfeeldesperatebecauseyouknowthatifyoucrashintothesefiveworkers,theywillalldie.Let'sassumeyouknowthatforsure.Andsoyoufeelhelplessuntilyounoticethatthereis,offtotheright,asidetrackandattheendofthattrack,thereisoneworkerworkingonthetrack.Yoursteeringwheelworks,soyoucanturnthetrolleycar,ifyouwantto,ontothesidetrackkillingtheonebutsparingthefive.Here'sourfirstquestion:

what'stherightthingtodo?

Whatwouldyoudo?

Let'stakeapoll.Howmanywouldturnthetrolleycarontothesidetrack?

Raiseyourhands.Howmanywouldn't?

Howmanywouldgostraightahead?

Keepyourhandsupthoseofyouwhowouldgostraightahead.Ahandfulofpeoplewould,thevastmajoritywouldturn.Let'shearfirst,nowweneedtobegintoinvestigatethereasonswhyyouthinkit'stherightthingtodo.

Let'sbeginwiththoseinthemajoritywhowouldturntogoontothesidetrack.Whywouldyoudoit?

Whatwouldbeyourreason?

Who'swillingtovolunteerareason?

Goahead.Standup.Becauseitcan'tberighttokillfivepeoplewhenyoucanonlykillonepersoninstead.Itwouldn'tberighttokillfiveifyoucouldkillonepersoninstead.That'sagoodreason.Whoelse?

Doeseverybodyagreewiththatreason?

Goahead.WellIwasthinkingit'sthesamereasonon9/11withregardtothepeoplewhoflewtheplaneintothePennsylvaniafieldasheroesbecausetheychosetokillthepeopleontheplaneandnotkillmorepeopleinbigbuildings.Sotheprincipletherewasthesameon9/11.It'satragiccircumstancebutbettertokillonesothatfivecanlive,isthatthereasonmostofyouhad,thoseofyouwhowouldturn?

Yes?

Let'shearnowfromthoseintheminority,thosewhowouldn'tturn.Yes.Well,Ithinkthat'sthesametypeofmentalitythatjustifiesgenocideandtotalitarianism.Inordertosaveonetypeofrace,youwipeouttheother.Sowhatwouldyoudointhiscase?

Youwould,toavoidthehorrorsofgenocide,youwouldcrashintothefiveandkillthem?

Presumably,yes.Youwould?

-Yeah.Okay.Whoelse?

That'sabraveanswer.Thankyou.

Let'sconsideranothertrolleycarcaseandseewhetherthoseofyouinthemajoritywanttoadheretotheprinciple:

"betterthatoneshoulddiesothatfiveshouldlive."Thistimeyou'renotthedriverofthetrolleycar,you'reanonlooker.You'restandingonabridgeoverlookingatrolleycartrack.Anddownthetrackcomesatrolleycar,attheendofthetrackarefiveworkers,thebrakesdon'twork,thetrolleycarisabouttocareenintothefiveandkillthem.Andnow,you'renotthedriver,youreallyfeelhelplessuntilyounoticestandingnexttoyou,leaningoverthebridgeisaveryfatman.Andyoucouldgivehimashove.Hewouldfalloverthebridgeontothetrackrightinthewayofthetrolleycar.Hewoulddiebuthewouldsparethefive.Now,howmanywouldpushthefatmanoverthebridge?

Raiseyourhand.

Howmanywouldn't?

Mostpeoplewouldn't.Here'stheobviousquestion.Whatbecameoftheprinciple"bettertosavefivelives

evenifitmeanssacrificingone?

"Whatbecameoftheprinciple

thatalmosteveryoneendorsedinthefirstcase?

Ineedtohearfromsomeonewhowasinthemajorityinbothcases.Howdoyouexplainthedifferencebetweenthetwo?

Yes.Thesecondone,Iguess,involvesanactivechoiceofpushingapersondown

whichIguessthatpersonhimselfwouldotherwisenothavebeeninvolvedinthesituationatall.Andsotochooseonhisbehalf,Iguess,toinvolvehiminsomethingthatheotherwisewouldhaveescapedis,Iguess,morethanwhatyouhaveinthefirstcasewherethethreeparties,thedriverandthetwosetsofworkers,arealready,Iguess,inthesituation.Buttheguyworking,theoneonthetrackofftotheside,hedidn'tchoosetosacrificehislifeanymorethanthefatmandid,didhe?

That'strue,buthewasonthetracksand...Thisguywasonthebridge.

Goahead,youcancomebackifyouwant.Allright.It'sahardquestion.Youdidwell.Youdidverywell.It'sahardquestion.

Whoelsecanfindawayofreconcilingthereactionofthemajorityinthesetwocases?

Yes.Well,Iguessinthefirstcasewhereyouhavetheoneworkerandthefive,it'sachoicebetweenthosetwoandyouhavetomakeacertainchoiceandpeoplearegoingtodiebecauseofthetrolleycar,notnecessarilybecauseofyourdirectactions.Thetrolleycarisarunawaything

andyou'remakingasplitsecondchoice.Whereaspushingthefatmanoverisanactualactofmurderonyourpart.Youhavecontroloverthatwhereasyoumaynothavecontroloverthetrolleycar.SoIthinkit'saslightlydifferentsituation.Allright,whohasareply?

That'sgood.Whohasaway?

Whowantstoreply?

Isthatawayoutofthis?

Idon'tthinkthat'saverygoodreasonbecauseyouchooseto-eitherwayyouhavetochoosewhodiesbecauseyoueitherchoosetoturnandkilltheperson,whichisanactofconsciousthoughttoturn,oryouchoosetopushthefatmanoverwhichisalsoanactive,consciousaction.Soeitherway,you'remakingachoice.Doyouwanttoreply?

I'mnotreallysurethatthat'sthecase.Itjuststillseemskindofdifferent.Theactofactuallypushingsomeoneoverontothetracksandkillinghim,youareactuallykillinghimyourself.You'repushinghimwithyourownhands.You'repushinghimandthat'sdifferentthansteeringsomethingthatisgoingtocause

deathintoanother.Youknow,itdoesn'treallysoundrightsayingitnow.

No,no.It'sgood.It'sgood.What'syourname?

Andrew.Andrew.Letmeaskyouthisquestion,Andrew.Yes.Supposestandingonthebridgenexttothefatman,Ididn'thavetopushhim,supposehewasstandingoveratrapdoorthatIcouldopenbyturningasteeringwheellikethat.Wouldyouturn?

Forsomereason,thatstilljustseemsmorewrong.Right?

Imean,maybeifyouaccidentallylikeleanedintothesteeringwheelorsomethinglikethat.But...Orsaythatthecarishurtlingtowardsaswitchthatwilldropthetrap.ThenIcouldagreewiththat.That'sallright.Fairenough.Itstillseemswronginawaythatitdoesn'tseemwronginthefirstcasetoturn,yousay.Andinanotherway,Imean,inthefirstsituationyou'reinvolveddirectlywiththesituation.Inthesecondone,you'reanonlookeraswell.Allright.-Soyouhavethechoiceofbecominginvolvedornotbypushingthefatman.Allright.Let'sforgetforthemomentaboutthiscase.

That'sgood.Let'simagineadifferentcase.Thistimeyou'readoctorinanemergencyroomandsixpatientscometoyou.They'vebeeninaterribletrolleycarwreck.Fiveofthemsustainmoderateinjuries,oneisseverelyinjured,youcouldspendalldaycaringfortheoneseverelyinjuredvictimbutinthattime,thefivewoulddie.Oryoucouldlookafterthefive,restorethemtohealthbutduringthattime,theoneseverelyinjuredpersonwoulddie.Howmanywouldsavethefive?

Nowasthedoctor,howmanywouldsavetheone?

Veryfewpeople,justahandfulofpeople.Samereason,Iassume.Onelifeversusfive?

Nowconsideranotherdoctorcase.Thistime,you'reatransplantsurgeonandyouhavefivepatients,eachindesperateneedofanorgantransplantinordertosurvive.Oneneedsaheart,onealung,oneakidney,onealiver,andthefifthapancreas.Andyouhavenoorgandonors.Youareabouttoseethemdie.Andthenitoccurstoyouthatinthenextroomthere'sahealthyguywhocameinforacheck-up.Andhe's–youlikethat–andhe'stakinganap,youcouldgoinveryquietly,yankoutthefiveorgans,thatpersonwoulddie,butyoucouldsavethefive.Howmanywoulddoit?

Anyone?

Howmany?

Putyourhandsupifyouwoulddoit.Anyoneinthebalcony?

Iwould.Youwould?

Becareful,don'tleanovertoomuch.Howmanywouldn't?

Allright.Whatdoyousay?

Speakupinthebalcony,youwhowouldyankouttheorgans.Why?

I'dactuallyliketoexploreaslightlyalternatepossibilityofjusttakingtheoneofthefivewhoneedsanorganwhodiesfirstandusingtheirfourhealthyorganstosavetheotherfour.That'saprettygoodidea.That'sagreatideaexceptforthefactthatyoujustwreckedthephilosophicalpoint.

Let'sstepbackfromthesestoriesandtheseargumentstonoticeacoupleofthingsaboutthewaytheargumentshavebeguntounfold.Certainmoralprincipleshavealreadybeguntoemergefromthediscussionswe'vehad.Andlet'sconsiderwhatthosemoralprincipleslooklike.Thefirstmoralprinciplethatemergedinthediscussionsaidtherightthingtodo,themoralthingtododependsontheconsequencesthatwillresultfromyouraction.Attheendoftheday,betterthatfiveshouldliveevenifonemustdie.That'sanexampleofconsequentialistmoralreasoning.Consequentialistmoralreasoninglocatesmoralityintheconsequencesofanact,inthestateoftheworldthatwillresultfromthethingyoudo.Butthenwewentalittlefurther,weconsideredthoseothercasesandpeopleweren'tsosureaboutconsequentialistmoralreasoning.Whenpeoplehesitatedtopushthefatmanoverthebridgeortoyankouttheorgansoftheinnocentpatient,peoplegesturedtowardreasonshavingtodowiththeintrinsicqualityoftheactitself,consequencesbewhattheymay.

Peoplewerereluctant.Peoplethoughtitwasjustwrong,categoricallywrong,tokillaperson,aninnocentperson,evenforthesakeofsavingfivelives.Atleastpeoplethoughtthatinthesecondversionofeachstoryweconsider