Sometimes people lie about circumstances, or secretly contribute to make those circumstances happen. Some of our moral heuristics may have evolved in reaction to this. Why is actively causing harm worse than merely refusing to help? Because it may be easy to create a crisis that you can then “solve” by sacrificing other people.
Also, your inaction sometimes allows other people to act. (The thought experiments assume this never happens, but in reality it sometimes does, and our instincts are shaped by our experience from reality.) If you won’t stop your car to take a person to the hospital, maybe someone else will. If you actively run over the person...
Just some random thoughts I had while reading:
Sometimes people lie about circumstances, or secretly contribute to make those circumstances happen. Some of our moral heuristics may have evolved in reaction to this. Why is actively causing harm worse than merely refusing to help? Because it may be easy to create a crisis that you can then “solve” by sacrificing other people.
Also, your inaction sometimes allows other people to act. (The thought experiments assume this never happens, but in reality it sometimes does, and our instincts are shaped by our experience from reality.) If you won’t stop your car to take a person to the hospital, maybe someone else will. If you actively run over the person...