I feel like I shouldn’t sacrifice myself because I can save more than five lives. Then again, me not being able to do so would be part of the “all else being equal” thing that’s implicitly assumed. If I take into account that I can save more lives, I also have to take into account that I could be arrested for pushing the fat man off the track.
Ah, OK. As noted elsewhere, I was misled by you describing yourself as someone who can save lives, rather than as someone who will. Thanks for clarifying.
I feel like I shouldn’t sacrifice myself because I can save more than five lives. Then again, me not being able to do so would be part of the “all else being equal” thing that’s implicitly assumed. If I take into account that I can save more lives, I also have to take into account that I could be arrested for pushing the fat man off the track.
That seems like an odd reason, unless you assume that the five people tied to the tracks can’t collectively save more lives than you can.
I don’t assume that they can’t. Just that they won’t. Most people don’t seem to care much about saving lives.
Ah, OK. As noted elsewhere, I was misled by you describing yourself as someone who can save lives, rather than as someone who will. Thanks for clarifying.
Maybe it’s about how likely you are to save lives rather than how possible it is.
Maybe. If so, I was misled by the fact that DanielLC didn’t say he’s likely to save lives, merely that he can.