Identity and philosophy · experts disagree
The trolley problem
Philippa Foot, 1967; the footbridge variant is Judith Jarvis Thomson's, 1976 and 1985.
A runaway trolley is heading down a track towards five people who cannot get out of the way. You are standing by a switch. If you pull it, the trolley is diverted onto a side track where one person is standing, who will be killed. Most people say they would pull the switch. Now the second case. The same trolley, the same five people, but no switch. You are on a footbridge over the track next to a very large man. If you push him off the bridge his body will stop the trolley; he will die and the five will live. You cannot stop it by jumping yourself. Most people say they would not push.
In both cases one person dies so that five live. Is there a difference that justifies pulling the switch but not pushing the man, or are the two judgements inconsistent?