Business Ethics Week 1 Discussion: Review of the Ethical Dilemma in the Video “The Good Place – The Trolley Problem”

The main ethical dilemma in this video is whether to sacrifice five people and save one or
kill five people and rescue one person (Letsbepandas, 2017). The runaway trolley has lost its
breaks, and there is only one option for the driver – either to steer in the track direction with five
workers (and subsequently kill them) or head in the direction with one person (and
consequently kill the one individual). This ‘Trolley Problem’ is one of the many thought
experiments designed by Phillippa Foot in 1967 to help psychologists and philosophers debate
and understand the double effect of an ethical dilemma. The ‘double effect’ rule is a principle
used to evaluate the permissibility of an action when the only other option may as well be
wrong. In both scenarios, there is no right decision because neither of the two routes taken is
morally correct.
The moral dilemma in this ‘Trolley Problem’ scenario can be addressed using two
different schools of thought: utilitarian and Kantian (Westacott, 2019). Based on the Utilitarian
approach, which states that the best decision favors the greatest number of people, the
appropriate action is to kill one worker and spare the five. The utilitarian point of view posits that
the most appropriate action is the one that ‘does good’ to the majority (or the greatest number of
people). In this case, ‘doing good’ to the greatest number is by steering towards the track with one
worker (Westacott, 2019). On the contrary, Kantian ethics disqualifies any action as being right.
This implies that there is no action that is ethically right, whether killing the five and sparing the
one or vice versa. Unlike the utilitarian that revolves around the outcome, Kantian ethics focuses
on ‘good-will,’ which is selecting to do the ethically correct thing. The scenario involves making

ETHICAL DILEMMA 3
difficult decisions. Similarly, business ethics involve making tough decisions. It is important to
apply certain ethical principles in making these business decisions and this necessitates the study
of business ethics.

References

Letsbepandas. (2017, Dec 12). The good place- The trolley problem Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfIdNV22LQM
Westacott, E. (2019). Kantian ethics in a nutshell: The moral philosophy of Immanuel
Kant. ThoughtCo. Available online at https://sites. psu. edu/rclperdue/2014/09/19/the-
bigthree-of-greek-philosophy-socrates-plato-and-aristotle.