Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T15:17:38.822Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - The trolley problem and the doing/allowing distinction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2023

Hallvard Lillehammer
Affiliation:
Birkbeck, University of London
Get access

Summary

This chapter explores the relationship between the Trolley Problem and the distinction between doing and allowing harm. I begin by discussing the origin of the Trolley Problem, considering Philippa Foot’s original version of the case and what Judith Jarvis Thomson’s modification of the cases shows. Thomson’s original (and best) argument presents the bystander trolley case not to undermine the distinction between doing and allowing harm, but to raise questions about precisely what we mean when we say this distinction matters morally. I then consider whether the Trolley Problem challenges the moral relevance of doing/allowing distinction. I show that the trolley case is not a straightforward counterexample to the doing/allowing distinction. But does the Trolley Problem show that the defender of the doing/allowing distinction cannot give a consistent and intuitively acceptable answer to how much harder doing harm is to justify than merely allowing harm? I argue that this concern is misguided. We should expect there to be other morally relevant features that interact with the doing/allowing distinction, strengthening or weakening constraints against doing harm. Consideration of the Trolley Problem shows that both the distinction between doing and allowing harm and a sister deontological distinction are needed.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Trolley Problem , pp. 101 - 115
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×