• threeonefour@piefed.ca
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    6 days ago

    You’re absolutely right that a world where this situation can occur is a flawed world, that’s not what the trolly problem is trying to explain. It’s trying to explain the main points of an ethical framework you can use to analyze any arbitrary situation.

    Why are people tied to the tracks in the trolly problem in the first place? Because it’s a contrived example to explain a point. The point being that inaction can cause harm and people can be held accountable for their inactions just as much as their actions.

    The OP image asks why ethical theorists don’t ask if it’s right to hoard bread while others are starving, but they do. It’s the trolly problem.

    • CombatWombat@feddit.online
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      6 days ago

      Precisely. It is out of bounds to ask why the person is tied to the tracks because it is contrived; the question proceeds from there. Existential comics asks: “why is it out of bounds? why don’t we ask those other kinds of questions?”