POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Architecture, Design, and the Built Environment

Department of Architecture

Fontanilla, Aldrin Gabriel A.

2019-04729-MN-0
GEED 10093 – Ethics
Dr. Michael Roland F. Hernandez

1.1 Introductory Lecture – Trolley Problem

The Trolley Problem is an age-old question that proved to be quite a hard ethical
dilemma for all those who have been faced with it. However, our questions is “which is
the most ethical, or right thing to do?”

Our brains have continuously evolved over the eras of human occupation on this
planet, eventually giving us the ability to think for ourselves, or free will, in short. And as
mentioned in the lecture, free will always “seeks out good”. Now when we think of “good”
in this scenario and choose accordingly, the true ethical solution to this dilemma is to just
free everyone on tied on the rails or have some barricade between the tracks and the
trolley so no one dies. However, we are not given that option. Therefore, we are to look
for more ethical between the two choices.

These two options are Indirectly Voluntary Acts, as they are “results merely
permitted as the inevitable result of an object directly willed”. Because no matter what we
choose, there are still lives that will be taken as consequence to both. Do nothing, and
five people die, only one survives. Pull the lever, one person is killed, but five people
survives. Therefore, the most ethical solution is to pull the lever and painfully let one
person die, because according to Principle of Double Effect of Involuntary acts, “the action
which produces double effects must be good in itself, or at least morally indifferent”.
Though it says that “the good effect must not come from the evil effect”, it is still justified
because first, it follows the concept that free will seeks out good. And second, given that
we do seek out good, the Principle of Double Effect also states that “the motive of the
doer must be towards the attainment of good”, in this case, which is to save as much lives
as we can. Third, the Principle also states that “the good effect must outweigh the evil
result in it’s importance”, which in this case, again, pulling the lever saves four more lives
than not doing so.