Imagine yourself as a police officer who is out on patrol in a crowd. You spot the friendly gentleman you spoke to earlier at the merchandise. You hear him suddenly say, “Leave now.” Run! Run! I have a bomb that can kill me and all of you. But you are nice and I would not feel bad about killing your.” He shows the bomb to you and holds the detonator in one hand. What are you going to do? Do you allow the bomber to set off the detonator? Will he kill hundreds, including you? Are you going to shoot the bomber with your gun, saving everyone except him? I will compare and contrast the approaches of a utilitarian with a deontologist to the given scenario. Both have valid points about how to approach a decision. However, in emergencies like this, a middle way is required. Contrasting utilitarianism with deontology, utilitarianism considers the consequences of their actions and decides what to do. The best choice for everyone is to choose the option that will bring the most happiness/benefits. Their core value lies in happiness. Deontology believes in the existence of wrong actions and immoral outcomes. Their actions are guided by deep-rooted morality. Their core values are rationality, autonomy, and freedom. Deontology refers to the fact that Immanuel Kant caused it. Kant gives us a clear imperative to live morally all the time. It commands that people behave as if all their actions were a universal law and everyone must follow it. This leads them to believe that certain actions, such a lying or murdering, should not be carried out. These two ethical theories are represented by the Trolley problem. This problem shows a trolley that is running erratically towards five people. The trolley is in front of you. Pulling the lever will cause the trolley to change directions towards one person instead of five. Either do nothing and let five people die, or pull the lever so that the trolley switches tracks. In this instance, a utilitarian would advise you to decide what action will bring you the most happiness. For example, pulling the lever would save the group with five people. Deontologists, on the contrary, believe that killing is always wrong. The deontologists would tell you not to pull the lever. This would mean you have personally killed someone. But if the lever is not pulled, the five people who are affected by the death of the trolley are theirs. Utilitarianism concentrates on the ends and outcomes of action. Deontology focuses more on the actions themselves. There are few similarities between utilitarianism and deontology. They share a common goal: to try and determine which actions of human beings are right and which are not. There are few similarities between them. Both approaches to understanding good and evil are completely different. If I was in this position, I would consider both utilitarianism and deontology. I agree that maximising happiness should always be the goal in making a decision. But, this shouldn’t be made based only on emotion. If I was to choose based on happiness, for example, I would shoot the bomber dead. Witnessing the death of someone could cause me extreme emotional distress. Although many bystanders would be grateful to this act, there will still be people who won’t experience happiness as a result. Deontology also says that emotions should not be my only focus and that it is best to avoid lethal force at all cost, even if this means disappointing many people. If I followed this advice fully, however, I would kill the man who pressed the detonator. It’s illegal to kill, so no one was allowed to return to their families or loved ones. I would respond with the middle option if I was faced with such a scenario. I would have shot him with the gun in my hand to stop him pressing the detonator.
Everyone who enters the market is allowed to leave alive. The core values deontology as well utilitarianism were exemplified by this action. Each person was respected and happiness was achieved. Utilitarianism says that an action can be justified if it is beneficial to the majority or brings about the greatest happiness. Deontology, which is the belief that an act should be based upon whether it is correct or wrong following a set rules. Even if the hypothetical decision works, the best way to determine a stable course for action that is beneficial to everyone, and not just the majority, is to balance these ethical theories. To save the life of the bomber, and that of all those on the market, it was better to shoot him than to kill him in this scenario.
