Thomsons Argument Of The Trolley Problem Philosophy Essay

Thomsons Argument Of The Trolley Problem Philosophy Essay A utilitarian is concerned with providing the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people, so in this first case a utilitarian would agree with Thomson and would say that it is mandatory to pull the lever and save the greater number of people. An opposing view would say that pulling the lever constitutes as a moral wrong, and would make the bystander partially responsible for the death. One has a moral obligation to get involved in these cases just by being present in the scenario and being able to change the outcome. Deciding to do nothing would be considered an immoral act if one values five lives more than one. In the first case, the bystander does not intend to harm anyone; the harm will be done regardless of which way the trolley goes. In the second case, pushing and harming the large man is the only way to save the five people on the trolley. in contrast, Thomson argues that a key distinction between the first trolley problem and the second case is that in the first case, you simply redirect the harm, but in the second case, you actually have to do something to the large man to save the five workers. Thomson states that in the first case, no worker has more of a right than the other not to be killed, but in the second case, the large man does have a right not to be pushed over the bridge, violating his right to life. To put the first trolley case in a different perspective I will present a similar case. Something has gone terribly wrong on an airplane and is inevitably about to crash and is heading straight to a heavily populated area. The airplane pilot knows that regardless innocent people will die so he turns the plane towards a less populated area, killing less innocent people. Was the pilots action to steer the plane in a different direction morally permissible? Thomson would say that the pilots actions were correct, because the greater populated are has the same right to live as the less populated area, and you are merely deflecting the harm to kill less people which is morally permissible because no rights have been violated. Thomson presents an alternative case to the second trolley problem to better illustrate her argument. In this case, a surgeon has 5 patients that are all in need of organ transplants, and they will die without the organ, but since they all have a rare blood type there are no organs available. A traveler comes into the office for a check up, and the doctor discovers that this traveler has the necessary organs that could save these five dying patients. The doctor asks the traveler if he would donate and but he sincerely declines. Would it be morally permissible for the doctor to kill the bystander and operate anyway? Thomson would argue that it is not permissible to operate on the traveler, because the doctor would be violating his right to life. This differs from the first trolley case because in the first case you are simply deflecting the harm as opposed to the second trolley case, and the transplant case, you have to act and do something to an innocent person in order to save the f ive people. In the first case none of the workers have more of a right than the other not to be killed, but in the second case the large man has a right not to be killed. In the transplant case, a utilitarian is concerned with the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, so just like in the first case where a utilitarian would say to pull the lever to kill one and save five, he would do the same in the transplant case to kill one and save five. Thomson disagrees and states that in the first case killing one is a side effect of killing five, in the transplant case you are violating a persons right where the act could have been avoided to begin with. Thomson states that killing is worse a death caused by letting someone die. In the first trolley case it would seem rational to agree that the person is morally obligated to pull the lever and save the five people. In the second case, the person should not be forced to push the large man onto the track because in this case he is killing the man to save the others where as in the first case it is inevitably one or the other. It would also seem rational that the doctor should not kill the man for the transplant because it is similar to the second case. Although in every case you are sacrificing one to save five, there are situations where it is not morally permissible to kill the one person, such as the second case and the transplant case. In these case the persons right to life is violated, and therefore would make it morally permissible to kill them. In order for Thomson to justify her opinions she needs to identify the differences in both cases that is strong enough to make a valid argument. In short, Thomson identifies that in both cases there is an innocent bystander who is not responsible in any of the events, but has the opportunity to get involved in order to save five people instead of the one. She assumes that there is no relationship or tension at all between the bystander and the workers so he has a clear mind on what his decision should be. Thomson states that we need to focus on the rights of the people as a means to an end relationship between the bystander and the workers. She argues that in both cases the bystander does wrong to the person whose life he chooses to sacrifice, but in the second case where the bystander pushes the large man, there is a direct violation of his rights. By performing the act of pushing, the bystander is directly violating on the large mans right not to be killed. This differs from the fi rst case where the bystander pulls a lever to kill one and save five, because it does not violate the single workers rights; diverting a train does not violate anyones rights, but pushing an innocent man does. Thomson feels that this explains why the bystander is allowed to intervene by pulling the lever because the bystander can maximize the utility without violating anyones rights, whereas in the second case, in order to maximize utility the bystander would have to violate someones rights. The problem arises that in the first case, although the bystander is not directly violating the single workers right, he is indirectly violating his right not to be killed. Thomson replies to this concern by saying that although this is true but it being direct or indirect is not relevant when a persons right not to be killed is concerned.

Physics of Music Essay example -- physics music sound

"He who understands nothing but chemistry does not truly understand chemistry either" Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799) Music is not purely a form of art. There is a great deal of science that goes behind the production of beautiful musical sounds. In order to understand how music is possible, one must have an understanding of physics. Physics allows us to create musical instruments with different tone qualities and the ability to be played in a certain way to produce a specific pitch or note. Music is sound, and sound is vibrations or waves that are at the right frequency to be perceived by the human ear. Audible vibrations are waves with a frequency between 16 and 20,000 vibrations per second. So what causes sound waves? Sound waves are caused by a disturbance in an elastic medium. These can include the strings on a violin, the reed on a clarinet, and even the human vocal cords. Click on the links below to discover how science makes it possible to create a variety of musical sounds. Stringed instruments produce sound when an action such as plucking or bowing causes them to vibrate. When a string is fixed at both ends, two transverse waves will move from the left and right side of the disturbance. When the waves hit the fixed ends of the string, they bounce back and continue to vibrate until they are eventually stopped by friction and "leaks" through the fixed points. It can be proved with mathematics that standing waves are the only stable vibrations that are possible for a string with two fixed ends. Because these waves are standing waves, the only possible wavelengths are found by 2L/n, where L is the length of the string and n is the harmonic number, which is can be any integer describing the mode of the stret... ...of valves that attach to additional tubing. When the valves are pressed additional lengths of tubing are inserted into the airway of the horn to lower the pitch. Bibliography Askill, John. Physics of Musical Sounds. Litton Educational Publishing, Inc. 1979. Fletcher, Neville H. and Rossing, Thomas D. The Physics of Musical Instruments. Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1991. Harder, Paul O. and Steinke, Greg A. Basic Materials in Music Theory. Prentice Hall. 2000. Levarie, Siegmund and Levy, Ernst. Tone: A Study in Musical Acoustics. Kent State University Press. 1968. Roederer, Juan G. The Physics and Psychophysics of Music: An Introduction. Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. 1995. Serway, Raymond A. and Beichner, Robert J. Physics for Scientists and Engineers. Thomson Learning, Inc. 2000.

24th Amendment

The amendment was one of the last legal vestiges of segregation that tried to keep the black population and the poor people from participating in the vote. As today, the 24th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees that no person can be denied the right to vote due to an inability to pay a tax prior to voting. The â€Å"poll tax† is now considered unconstitutional. The poll tax was levied on an individual used as a prerequisite for voting. Poll taxes are the same for all persons subject to them, regardless of their income, property or other taxes paid.It was grateful that this amendment is in the constitution. It was needed because the poll tax was keeping certain individuals from voting because of their income and/or their race, and that is unconstitutional according to the Fourteenth Amendment. It is so ridiculous to have to pay to vote for something especially when you are voting to see who is going to run your own country. Voting is one of the many rights of every America n citizen and as long as you are an American citizen you should be able to vote without paying. This amendment is a step forward in equal rights and you can really see that today.Without the Twenty-fourth Amendment the Americans citizen cannot vote regardless of his or her race or financial status. Therefore, we need to thanks for this amendment. As today, every American citizen is allowed to vote as long as he/or she are eighteen and registered. I do not think that this amendment could go much further. I think it has gone as far as it cans because nobody has had to pay to vote for an election since. I am a USA citizen and I did not realize that in the old days the poll tax was based on racism and that you could be barred from voting because you did not pay taxes.I have read articles on men and women that have never been able to vote until this amendment was passed because they were poor and could not afford it. Some people were in their forties before they could vote and it would n ot surprise me if there were people that had not been able to vote until they were much older or someone who never have a chance to vote at all. I think today the younger population is taking advantage of being able to vote at eighteen and not having to pay a tax to do so.Hopefully with time my generation will see the importance of voting and will do so in the future. It is a great honor and privilege to vote and to have the freedom to voice your opinion in a free election. I love my country because every four years we have a mini revolution where the powers of the white house are either changed or stayed the same without a single shot being fired, without a single life being sacrificed, without races, religion, ethnic background, political stance and social status being road blocks to keep us from voting backed by the Constitution and this amendment.In conclusion, it is a shame that so many people do not realize the value of voting. It’s sad that they do not exercise their r ight to vote. Just imagine that we still have the poll tax, I believe that we would be right where we are today. On the other hand, I know that the poll tax to me was unconstitutional and that no matter what, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment was a must to bring American civilization together. In some way, that makes us all equal. This is what this country has been trying to do for a long time.

Johnny Tremain essays

Johnny Tremain essays In the face of adversity, our character can change extremely. Ester Forbes writes about this example in her book, Johnny Tremain, which takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1773, during the revolutionary war. As we read the book, we see Johnny facing many obstacles and problems causing him to start a different and new life. However, Johnny encounters bad luck, but he learns to understand his problems better and accepts them. Johnny Tremain starts out as a arrogant boy who one day wants to be a silversmith. Unfortunately one day, he was in a silversmiths shop and injures his hand from burning hot silver, which causes him to deeply damage his hand. He no longer could be a silversmith. Of course, Johnny was deeply ashamed of his hand and always hid it from the world. Gradually, he then has the courage to show his hand. Johnny felt no more shame over his burned hand -pg. 254- Later, Johnny comes across the printing press of the Boston Observer while looking for another job. While there, Johnny gets the chance to meet Rab and immediately makes friend with him. Johnny than notice that he enjoyed telling Rab stories about his hand, but with nonce of the belligerent arrogance which he had been answering the questions kind people had put to him. - page 146- This is the first time since the accident he felt able to stand aside from his problems to see himself. - pg. 255- Rab turns his life around and shows him another world that he could and must face. Without Rab, Johnny might not have believed in himself and achieved much. A big influence on Johnnys life were his friends. As previously mentioned, Rab contributed much to Johnnys life. Rab has shown Johnny that he could achieve anything he waned too. Rab taught Johnny how to ride Goblin, gets ...

spellbound essays

spellbound essays The book I read was Spellbound by Christopher Pike. In this book, a teenage girl named Karen Holly, was killed at the top of a nearby mountain with her skull smashed in. The only witness to this horrible murder was her boyfriend Jason Whitfield who said that a grizzly bear killed her and scratched him across the face when he tried to stop the bear by hitting it with a stick. He later goes to the police with his story and tells them where to find her corpse. When the police get to the top of the mountain they do not find her body where Jason said that it would be, but instead discovered the corpse in a nearby stream. After a few weeks people start to think that Jason is hiding something about that terrible night, some people even think that Jason himself killed her. These conspiracies are fuel by many things such as the fact that there was flesh found underneath Karen's fingernails or that Jason now has a new girlfriend named Cindy Jones. The town decides to have a trial because of all of the conspiracies so that they can set the record straight on what happen that night. A couple days before the trial Jason, Cindy, Cindy's brother Alex, Alex's date Joni Harper, Cindy's best friend Pam Alta, and a foreign exchange student who is staying with Pam named Bala decide to go to the top of the mountain. Jason wants to do this because he says he wants to face his fear of the mountain that he got after the night Karen was killed. At the top mountain, Jason says he wants to show them a secret cave. After walking for about ten minutes they have to go over a log to cross the stream. While walking on the log Cindy falls off and into the stream. Alex and Jason run to try to save Cindy but suddenly Bala dives off a high cliff into the water, grabs Cindy and pulls her to safety. The next day at school, Alex and his best friend named Ray get in a fight because Alex finds out that Ray is going out on a date that night with Joni H ...

Economic Development amid the Non (or Semi) Democratic political Term Paper

Economic Development amid the Non (or Semi) Democratic political institutions in Southeast Asia - Term Paper Example There are reports claiming that during the 2008 referendum which concurred with the cyclone Nargis, victims of the cyclone in the cyclone-affected areas were forced to vote ‘yes’ for the national referendum. The Union of Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) which is a non-military/civilian wing of the dictatorship threatened to cut relief supplies or inflict violence to anyone who voted against the proposed constitution. The new constitution was thus supported and enacted with 92.48% of the voters endorsing it. This indicates that despite the presence of opposition, total democracy was far from reach in Burma because these democrats were not likely to win the elections and referendums. These activities were oppressed and controlled by the nondemocratic military regime. Apart from inhuman treatment of the people, there was also a violation of the right of freedom of speech by the military regime. Burma citizens had little power to critic and correct the militaris ed nondemocratic political regime. Zarnagar, a comedian and a dissident was arrested for criticising the ruling generals in public for their sluggish and inadequate response to the cyclone Nargis. He was charged with offences of public order and his computer and many banned films were seized by secret police. When human conditions worsened because of the unmerited fuel price increase in 2007 in Burma, Charles Petrie, the United Nations Burma country chief, issued a statement on UN Day concerning the worsening humanitarian crisis in Burma. Because of this, he was expelled. Generally, the militarised nondemocratic government reinforced its rule by making use of pervasive security apparatus with Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence (DDSI), the military intelligence organization... The intention of this study is Burma as an example of how the economy of a nation can suffer because of poor leadership styles. For about half a century, the country has been under a militarized nondemocratic government which has grown to become more and more oppressive over time. the country has witnessed one of the worst violations of human rights because of a bad political regime. In efforts to maintain thumb of rule in the country the regime formulated poor and unattractive economic policies which have discouraged both local and foreign investment in the country. The land policies have acted as disincentives for the people to undertake land development and this has retarded the competitiveness of the nation’s agriculture. There are many and powerful global examples of highly developed nations that are ruled by democratic civilian governments. The US, UK, Canada, South Africa are just but a mention. This means that there are hopes that the end of the nondemocratic militari zed regime will bring Burma back on the road to development. Economic development is an important prerequisite for greater stability, prosperity, equality, stability, and better livelihoods. With the recent advent of the new Burma’s civilian, democratic government, it is of due significance that the international community should help direct the new Burma’s government into achieving economic developments that are sustainable. This will be very instrumental in ensuring that the repressed people of Burma receive the right food, education, health, security and happiness they deserve.

Organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organisation - Essay Example Thus, with the dynamics that the human beings portray, consistency is not only incompatible, but impossible. Still, there is a need for statutes to be there. Only in regular amendments, adjustments and constant evolution is the key to the supremacy and existence of human beings, which will allow a person to better understand what the environment is all about. Accounting and governing require a certain amount of skill, just like any other profession in the world. This skill needs to be learnt, acquired and sought, through a gradual process of grooming and training. Anybody who lacks this skill is henceforth deemed unsuitable for the task. Thus, he deduces that since people make the decision in management, they at large are not skilled in the profession of accounting within a statutory environment. The lack of skill in the people who ascertain the course of governance hence renders management as an irrational choice for accounting. It might be argued that experience, might and organizational skills are essential for the accounting class. For if one lacks these traits, then controlling the population of an organization would be a sore-some task, let alone managing the budget and rations. Skill is not as important as is getting the trust of the employees. It is ironic, that if one goes for a part-time job in a grocery store, they ask for experience and expertise, but nobody asks for the same when a ruler is to be elected! The concept of majority is a more generalized concept, and cannot be left at the whims of individuals. Universal good, though is not clearly defined, yet it exists as unison. It is only for a person to explore the same in appropriate conditions and circumstances, whereby the true inner persona of the individual will come out. In the context of helping others, this is a very important stance, the fact remains,