taw comments on The Problem With Trolley Problems - Less Wrong

11 Post author: lionhearted 23 October 2010 05:14AM

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Comment author: taw 24 October 2010 09:22:05AM 6 points [-]

Here's better shorter version of your post:

  • Trolley problems make a lot of sense in deontological ethics, to test supposedly universal moral rules in extreme situations.
  • Trolley problems do not make much sense in consequentialist ethics, as optimal action for a consequentialist can differ drastically between messy complicated real world and idealized world of thought experiments.

Also, politics is the mind-killer, don't use examples like that if you can help it.