This 5 page paper discusses a problem that can be used to illustrate the basic principles of Utilitarianism. Engineer Bill sees a little girl caught on the railroad tracks, but if he tries to stop quickly he'll derail his train and cause the death of hundreds. Does he save the girl or the passengers? Utilitarianism argues that he has to do what will benefit the greater good, which means he will sacrifice one child to save hundreds of people.
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at the expense of one hundred people who are headed for certain death, or does he spare those hundred people in exchange for one little girls life? When adopting
the utilitarian perspective in relation to this quandary, the student will find that the primary motivation is what impacts the most people and reflects an outcome for the greater good;
as such, Engineer Bill will save the trainload of passengers and forfeit Sarahs life. In its raw form, utilitarianism has the majoritys best
interest in mind; however, critics contend that such extension is limited to the number of people who stand to benefit from its application. This concept addresses Engineer Bills decision
in such a manner that motivates people to abide by the ideals of the vast majority over what might impact a small percentage. In other words, utilitarians believe that
what they uphold is in the best interest of all concerned, even when there are those who will, most assuredly, suffer for these actions. Clearly, Sarah willfully and knowingly
created her own predicament, as well as created one for the unsuspecting passengers upon the train; should her individual life be spared at the expense of so many others?
Indeed not, inasmuch as Sarahs mistake cannot be expected to cost one hundred innocent lives over her own. Engineer Bill grapples with the tenets of ordinary morality, a perspective that
most people adopt as their primary ethical approach. Harming anyone is inevitable in this particular situation, even when making the least damaging choice; however, that does not relieve Engineer
Bill of struggling against ordinary morality - which shares its views with Deontology - when it comes to employing utilitarianism to this situation. Clearly, the vastness of opposition between