Train Dilemma

Lesson and questions from video: Actions, intentions and consequences
https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=bOpf6KcWYyw
If all the dilemmas above have the same consequence, yet most people would only be willing to throw the lever, but not push the fat man or kill the healthy patient, does that mean our moral intuitions are not always reliable, logical or consistent?
Perhaps there’s another factor beyond the consequences that influences our moral intuitions?
Foot argued that there’s a distinction between killing and letting die. The former is active while the latter is passive.
In the first trolley dilemma, the person who pulls the lever is saving the life of the five workers and letting the one person die. After all, pulling the lever does not inflict direct harm on the person on the side track.
But in the footbridge scenario, pushing the fat man over the side is in intentional act of killing.
This is sometimes described as the principle of double effect, which states that it’s permissible to indirectly cause harm (as a side or “double” effect) if the action promotes an even greater good. However, it’s not permissible to directly cause harm, even in the pursuit of a greater good.
Thompson offered a different perspective. She argued that moral theories that judge the permissibility of an action based on its consequences alone, such as consequentialism or utilitarianism, cannot explain why some actions that cause killings are permissible while others are not.
If we consider that everyone has equal rights, then we would be doing something wrong in sacrificing one even if our intention was to save five.
Research done by neuroscientists has investigated which parts of the brain were activated when people considered the first two variations of the trolley dilemma.
They noted that the first version activates our logical, rational mind and thus if we decided to pull the lever it was because we intended to save a larger number of lives.
However, when we consider pushing the bystander, our emotional reasoning becomes involved and we therefore feel differently about killing one in order to save five.
Questions:
1. Are our emotions in this instance leading us to the correct action? Explain why you believe what you believe.
2. Should we avoid sacrificing one, even if it is to save five? Explain why you believe your answer.
3. What choice do you think you are willing to make and why?