In this situation, you’re trying to claim that the (action in your favored) solution to the pure version of the problem requires such narrow conditions that I can safely assume it won’t imply any recognizable regularity to which people could adapt. My point is that, in that case:
1) You’re no longer talking about trolley-like problems at all (as in my earlier distinction between the “which side of road problem” and the “which side of road + bizarre terrorist” problem, and
2) Since there is no recognizable regularity to the solution, the situation does not even serve to illuminate a boundary.
I’m trying to say that the problem exists mostly to fix a boundary. If killing one to save five is not okay, even under the most benign possible circumstances, then that closes off large fields of argument that could possibly be had. If it is, then it limits people out of using especially absolutist arguments in situations like murder law.
(The other advantage is that it gets people thinking about exactly what they believe, which is generally a good thing)
Also, re your side-of-road problem, I could actually come up with an answer for you in a minimal setup—assuming a new island that’s building a road network, I’d probably go for driving on the right, because more cars are manufactured that way, and because most people are right-handed and the centre console has more and touchier controls on it than the door.
In this situation, you’re trying to claim that the (action in your favored) solution to the pure version of the problem requires such narrow conditions that I can safely assume it won’t imply any recognizable regularity to which people could adapt. My point is that, in that case:
1) You’re no longer talking about trolley-like problems at all (as in my earlier distinction between the “which side of road problem” and the “which side of road + bizarre terrorist” problem, and
2) Since there is no recognizable regularity to the solution, the situation does not even serve to illuminate a boundary.
I’m trying to say that the problem exists mostly to fix a boundary. If killing one to save five is not okay, even under the most benign possible circumstances, then that closes off large fields of argument that could possibly be had. If it is, then it limits people out of using especially absolutist arguments in situations like murder law.
(The other advantage is that it gets people thinking about exactly what they believe, which is generally a good thing)
Also, re your side-of-road problem, I could actually come up with an answer for you in a minimal setup—assuming a new island that’s building a road network, I’d probably go for driving on the right, because more cars are manufactured that way, and because most people are right-handed and the centre console has more and touchier controls on it than the door.