The Trolley Problem

During the Thomistic Institute's summer Veritas conference, Fr. Ambrose Little, O.P., recorded a live episode of Big Questions, Little Answers!

In this clip from the episode, Fr. Little explores how St. Thomas would approach The Trolley Problem.

Simply put, The Trolley Problem is a thought experiment that revolves around a person faced with a choice: do nothing as a train continues on its course and hits five people in its path, or change the direction of the train onto another track so that it only hits one. 

If you would like to hear Fr. Little's thoughts on the matter, you can watch the whole video on our new Aquinas 101 learning platform! 

#Trolleyproblem #Thomism #thomisticinstitute

[tookie]

My favorite. Trolley #1: runs over 1 person
Trolley #2: runs over 1 person but does an insane flip before

[cordithicus]

It is law that, if you want to call yourself a philosopher, you must use the word "insofar"

[patrikioskoskinas]

I think that St. Thomas Aquinas would answer it with “what’s a trolley?”

[magne]

Gotta work on that succinct delivery, Padre. What would he have done?

[oceanw]

Let the train on it's course, this would not be murder.

[jonathancoppe]

He is really talking around the issue the whole time. “It’s very complicated.” “There’s no one answer.” “It comes from a different cultural context.”

[nathanfraga]

Change the course. Lesser evil problem, Saint Alphonsus give us the answer

[JimmyAkinsPetTurtle]

Trolley problem isn't about ethics. It's the removal of culpability and morally irrelavent decision making.

[martonk]

This was basically avoiding the question for half a minute. We didn’t even get to know why there is no Thomistic solution for the trolley problem, if that is the case.

[INFINITY_]

I am looking for this...fr:Ambrose Little....

[marielacolon]

What the cheese is the trolley problem?

[tomgnau]

Short answer: St. Thomas would not kill anyone to save anyone.