“An ethical dilemma is a problem in the decision-making process between two possible options, neither of which is absolutely acceptable from an ethical perspective” (Corporate Finance Institute, 2020). In an attempt to answer an ethical dilemma, I will do my best to approach the infamous Train Dilemma.
A train is hurtling down the track where five children are standing. You are the switch-person. By throwing the switch, you can put the train on a side track where one child is standing. Will you throw the switch?
When examining this scenario by itself, it would make stand to reason that I should throw the switch in an effort to minimize the amount of damage and lives lost in the scenario. To make this decision, I would have to reference utilitarianism; to do the greatest good for the greatest number. In other words, “utilitarians hold that preferable action in a certain situation is the one that maximizes the most utility for the most people” (Byskov, 2020). So in this case, killing one child to save five could be justified as it minimizes the negative impact and maximizes the utility of the greatest number.
You are standing next to an elderly man. If you push him in front of the train it will stop the train and all the children will be saved. Will you push him?
For this further scenario, I would have to choose to kill one older man to save six children. On one hand, the man is not necessarily directly involved in the situation and my inaction could save him. On the other, the man has had a chance to live out a life and these six children are young and have their whole lives ahead of them. For this situation, I think I would probably choose to push the elderly man if the sacrifice of his one life can save six others.
The one child on the side track is your child. Will you throw the switch to save the five children?
This question is much harder. To be frank, I currently do not have children so my answer to this question might be naïve. For this decision, I think about the complexity, context and consideration of the stakeholders as suggested by Mladenovic et al. when making ethical decisions (Mladenovic et al., 2019). To add to the complexity of the scenario, I would wonder about the family situation of each of the children. While killing my own child would be devastating and heartbreaking to say the very least, I would be choosing to put that burden and trauma onto five other families if I chose to save my own child. For me, this would play into my perspective on selfishness. Would I be willing to put that burden onto my family and myself in order to spare five other families that same grief?
I think I would want to have the courage and the selflessness to take on that burden rather than put that onto other people. In addition, the argument of utilitarianism still applies; choosing to kill my own child minimizes the impact on the group of stakeholders as a whole.
Byskov, M. F. (2020). Utilitarianism and risk. Journal of Risk Research, 23(2), 259-270. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2018.1501600
Ethical dilemma - definition, how to solve, and examples. (2020, September 17). Retrieved March 26, 2021, from https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/ethical-dilemma/
Mladenovic, R., Martinov-Bennie, N., & Bell, A. (2019). Business students’ insights into their development of ethical decision-making: JBE. Journal of Business Ethics, 155(1), 275-287. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.1007/s10551-017-3523-5
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