Would You Rather?

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Moral dilemma can make any game of would you rather much more intense.

A moral dilemma happens when the choices and obligations given do not allow for a moral end and solution. A required choice where all available options will violate a moral obligation. 

Subjects like this are often brought up in philosophy and are asked in order to see how an individual ‘thinks’ they will interact with tough situations. 

The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics about a fictional scenario in which an onlooker has the choice to save five people in danger of being hit by a trolley, by diverting the trolley to kill just one person.

Shannon Hall, a teacher at LHS, defines a moral dilemma as thinking one has to do something that goes against what they believe is right. She has been faced with these types of discussions before in classes like philosophy, but no certain moment in real life. Every decision has had a clear “right” choice that should be made in her life.

In the instance of the trolley problem, “if I am the onlooker, I would probably be frozen in indecision and end up killing us all.  I wouldn’t want to be responsible for anyone’s death, so ultimately all would perish in my indecision,” Shannon said. 

People have different definitions and thinking processes when it comes to both the subject of moral dilemmas and certain moral dilemma questions. 

Colleen Hall, a teacher at LHS, thinks that everyone can encounter moral dilemmas throughout life. For the trolley problem, the logical answer is to save five people, but it can get more difficult in a situation where the one person is someone you love and the other five are strangers.

“When faced with a moral dilemma, you have to trust your gut about which is the best option.  And although these situations are difficult, unfortunately,  sometimes we have to pick the lesser of two evils,” Colleen said.

The made-up scenarios can be added onto making them increasingly difficult to answer. In the scenario that you are an EMT; a car crash involving your girlfriend and the person they are cheating on you with occurs. When you get to the scene your girlfriend is not likely to make it through, and their lover has a neck injury but is likely to make it. Who do you work on?

Austin Tramel, a senior at LHS, has never heard of moral dilemmas. In the EMT situation it would depend on the situation; whether or not the lover knows or not can change who is saved. If they are both terrible people then maybe not save either. With no idea if the lover knew about him, he would work on the lover then beat him up once he is fixed. 

“Maybe he is a cool guy and the girl is the one that sucks,” Tramel said. 

Every situation people are put in will test their morals; not all involve the extent of people dying. Thinking about how someone might react and act during a situation can help understand them on a deeper level. 

I personally think that moral dilemma is fascinating and I enjoy thinking about what I would do in some of the situations. For the trolley problem, I would probably pull the most likely not do anything and let the five people die. I don’t want the blood of killing one guy on my hands, if I do nothing I am simply an onlooker. Either way, I would be traumatized, so both options are not great.