Very good reply here. I used to firmly identify as a deontologist for that reason—I actually wrote a post rejecting the trolley game for ignoring secondary effects. It got a very mixed response, but I stand strongly by one of the points on there -
… everything creates secondary effects. If putting people involuntarily in harm’s way to save others was an acceptable result, suddenly we’d all have to be really careful in any emergency. Imagine living in a world where anyone would be comfortable ending your life to save other people nearby—you’d have to not only be constantly checking your surroundings, but also constantly on guard against do-gooders willing to push you onto the tracks.
So I used to think I was a deontologist—“no, I wouldn’t push someone onto the tracks to save others, because it’s not a good idea to live in a world where people are comfortable ending each other’s lives when they deem it for the greater good.”
However, after a conversation with a very intelligent person with lots of training in philosophy, I was convinced I’m actually a “rules-based consequentialist”—that I want rules and protocols that produce a general set of consistently good effects rather than running the math every time a trolley is out of control (or a plane is going to crash, or a suspect you’re really darn sure did it is in custody but you’ve got flimsy evidence...)
Very good reply here. I used to firmly identify as a deontologist for that reason—I actually wrote a post rejecting the trolley game for ignoring secondary effects. It got a very mixed response, but I stand strongly by one of the points on there -
So I used to think I was a deontologist—“no, I wouldn’t push someone onto the tracks to save others, because it’s not a good idea to live in a world where people are comfortable ending each other’s lives when they deem it for the greater good.”
However, after a conversation with a very intelligent person with lots of training in philosophy, I was convinced I’m actually a “rules-based consequentialist”—that I want rules and protocols that produce a general set of consistently good effects rather than running the math every time a trolley is out of control (or a plane is going to crash, or a suspect you’re really darn sure did it is in custody but you’ve got flimsy evidence...)