Interesting point. It seems like human morality is more than just a function which maximizes human prosperity, or minimizes human deaths. It is a function which takes a LOT more into account than simply how many people die.
However, it does take into account its own biases, at least when it finds them displeasing, and corrects for them. When it thinks it has made an error, it corrects the part of the function which produced that error. For example, we might learn new things about game theory, or even switch from a deontological ethical framework to a utilitarian one.
So, the meta-level question is which of our moral intuitions are relevant to the trolley problem. (or more generally, what moral framework is correct.) If human deaths can be shown to be much more morally important than other factors, then the good of the many outweighs the good of the few. If, however, deontological ethics is correct, then the ends don’t justify the means.
Interesting point. It seems like human morality is more than just a function which maximizes human prosperity, or minimizes human deaths. It is a function which takes a LOT more into account than simply how many people die.
However, it does take into account its own biases, at least when it finds them displeasing, and corrects for them. When it thinks it has made an error, it corrects the part of the function which produced that error. For example, we might learn new things about game theory, or even switch from a deontological ethical framework to a utilitarian one.
So, the meta-level question is which of our moral intuitions are relevant to the trolley problem. (or more generally, what moral framework is correct.) If human deaths can be shown to be much more morally important than other factors, then the good of the many outweighs the good of the few. If, however, deontological ethics is correct, then the ends don’t justify the means.