The Trolley Problem (continuing)

In the previous posts, I give an introduction to normative ethics. Those three theories (utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics) are traditional perspectives in philosophy as we mention moral law. However, there are still some points of view raised to deal with moral problems in 20^th century. That is what I want to use and what I prefer for solving the trolley problem.

It is existentialism(存在主義). In particular, I want to introduce the theory from Jean Paul Sartre (保羅‧沙特), whose quote “existence precedes essence” is widely known. Sartre believes that there are no pre-existing moral guidelines that determine how we must act in the dilemma. We are forced to create our moral values through our choice, and we have no choice but to make a choice. Moreover, in Sartre’s theory, if we deny that we have the responsibility to make our choice in the moral dilemma, such as following the religion or moral systems, then we must be humiliating our humanity of free will and act in “bad faith”.

Therefore, in the trolley problem, we may give such an answer: there are no absolute objective morality here! We could only create our own morality by choosing whether to divert the way or not. After all, we will never know what we may do if we really face the choice in the trolley problem. We even don’t know whether we will make the same choice in the same condition if we choose again. In our erratic free will, the enigma of humanity lies.