Insiders and Outsiders

1 he Trolley Problem was first articulated by Philippa Foot.’ It was further developed by Judith Jarvis ThoI1ISon.Z Subsequently, there has been considerable discussion of the problem and various putative solutions of it? The problem involves various case-pairs about which we have fairly clear initial intuitions. More specifically, the problem consists in producing a principle which adequately explains one’s intuitions about the casesdistinguishing the members of the pairs-and which generalizes appropriately to other cases. Here, rather than presenting all of the relevant pairs of cases, I focus on one such pair. I shall call the first case, ”Bystander at the Switch”, or ”Elystander.” A trolley is hurtling down the tracks. There are five ”innocent” persons on the track ahead of the trolley, and they will all be killed if the trolley continues going straight ahead. There is a spur of track leading off to the right. Unfortunately, there is one innocent person on that spur of track. The brakes of the trolley have failed, and you are strolling by the track. You see that you could throw a switch that would cause the trolley to go onto the right spur. You are an ”innocent bystander,” i.e., not an employee of the railroad, and so forth. You can throw the switch, thus saving the five persons but causing the one to die, or you can do nothing, thus allowing the five to die. What should you do? It seems that it would at least be permissible for you to turn the trolley to the right, thus saving the five but killing the one. Perhaps it is also obligatory to do this, but it is at least intuitively plausible that one may tum the trolley to the right. But consider now a second case, “Fat Man.” You are standing on a bridge watching a trolley hurtling down the tracks toward five innocent persons. The brakes have failed, and the only way in which you can stop the train is by impeding its progress by throwing a heavy object in its path. There is a fat man standing on the bridge; he is peering over the hand railing, watching the lamentable scenario below. You could press a button which would cause the