http://www.philosophyexperiments.com/fatman/Default.aspx I was 100% consistent - so that's a relief, anyway! Should you kill the fat man? Hmm. Kate
The conclusion of the first question after the preliminary set is a straw man: the tone is one of condemnation for actively killing one person, but killing 5 people 'requires more exploration' when the circumstances (brake filure) were not of your making. I lost interest after that.
Having seen the damage a decelerating train can cause to a car I don't think one fat lad is going to stop one.
I rather suspect that it would be impossible to throw a very fat man off the bridge, so the question will not arise
If one could throw the fat man off the bridge, would that make him The Fat Controller? These scenarios can be debated endlessly where as the truth is that until one is in such a situation one does not know how one would react. At martial arts courses it is often asked what would you do if attacked by such a weapon in such a place. I don't know what I'd do, I'd react, but as to what technique etc I'd use I don't have a clue.
The preliminary questions never suggested there would be eejits on a train track but it did say I was inconsistent for letting most of them die. Kind of reminds me of a time I met a guy walking his dog up a well marked bike trail where bikes would be coming downhill at speed.....I prioritised avoiding the dog.
It was just a wekend diversion. I've done most of them on that site. Some are fun, others are tedious. Sometimes it's fun to try to beat the system. Kate
