Originally Posted by
tlacoatl
There is no difference.
In one situation there are 5 in danger, and you take action (pulling a lever) to put 1 person in danger, who was not already in danger, to save the 5.
In the second situation there are 5 in danger, and you take action (pushing someone onto the track) to put 1 person in danger, who was not already in danger, to save the 5.
You say in teh first situation that you are merely limiting deaths, but so are you in the second, the person on the otehr tracks is 100% safe unless you take action to kill them and save the 5, thats exactly the same as pushing an innocent onto the tracks.....
Its the same outcome, 1 innocent who was not in danger gets sacrificed to save the 5 who are in danger. Logically they are indentical, but as you are pointing out, people see a moral difference, which is why its a fallacy to say morality is based on logic, its not.