Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Harvard Justice 2

When it comes to utilitarianism, it would have to depend on the circumstances in my opinion. Utilitarianism has to do with achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people. In the case of the train having broken brakes and having to either go straight and kill five people or turning and killing 1, I would turn and only kill the one person. As wrong as killing people is, I would rather see one person die than five. There is a greater number of people in danger if the train stays straight so to achieve happiness for the greater amount of people, it would only make sense to turn and only kill the one person.
On the other hand, if there was a court case, for example, about a bunch of rich people standing against one poor person, it wouldn't make sense to rule the way the rich people wanted just because there is more of them than the one poor guy. The poor guy should have just as much of a chance at winning the trial as the rich, regardless of how many people there are on each side. That would be fair for everyone. Utilitarianism, in my opinion, is only justifiable depending on the circumstances.

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