The Trolley Problem: Navigating the Tension Between Consequentialism and Deontology

Student`s Name Instructor`s Name Institution Affiliation Date [Name] Consequentialism and deontology are two different and contrasting ethical theories that help to determine the morality of an action. The main difference between consequentialism and deontology is that consequentialism mainly focuses on the consequences of action while deontology will focus on the wrongness and rightness of an action. Unlike consequentialism, deontology will determine the rightness or wrongness of an action by focusing and examining the actions themselves. One of the famous forms of consequentialism is utilitarianism which compares the utility of the consequences of a certain action. Deontology on the other hand denies that morality is not about consequences. The most famous form of deontology and deontological theory was developed by Kant. To clearly define the difference between consequentialism and deontology we will use the trolley problem. The trolley problem highlights the tension between the two schools of moral thought. The Consequentialism perspective dictates that the appropriate action is the one that will achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people while the deontological perspective states that an action like killing an innocent person is wrong. In the case of the trolley, the problem Consequentialism says that we should sacrifice one individual to save the five while deontologists say we should not. The trolley problem gives us a very distinction between consequentialism and deontology. In this paper, we will make use of Consequentialism and deontology theories to analyze how they apply to the cases discussed in the trolley problem lecture. In the first case, Bystander and the switch there are two options the bystander at the switch can do which will have two different results. If the bystander turns on the switch he will save five people but kill one innocent person but if he does not turn it on he will save