App Detail » The Trolley Problem

Published by: Krister Johnson

iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad

Price: $0.99
Current Version: 3.0
Released: April 08, 2017

What's New

In this update, I changed the appearance of the App Store page to take advantage of the iOS 11 App Store redesign.

I never prompt you for a review because I feel that your time is too important to interrupt. If you feel generous or have a couple of minutes, please leave a review, or even just tap however many stars that you believe this app deserves. It makes a huge difference for my app's success. Thanks in advance :)

If you have any issues, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

App Description

This app provides a 3D, animated, interactive walkthrough of the two stages of the classic Trolley Problem that is taught in most ethics classes.

The app then walks the user through explanations of the Trolley Problem, including:
-introductions to the philosophers John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant and their hypothetical reactions to the Trolley Problem
-two video explanations of the Trolley Problem by TED-Ed and BBC
-an excerpt from a Harvard philosophy course taught by Michael Sandel called "Justice" that introduces the Trolley Problem and its implications
-an excerpt from a tech ethics class exploring the implications of self-driving cars encountering similar situations to the Trolley Problem

The classic Trolley Problem, as formulated by Philippa Foot in 1967, contains two sequential scenarios. The first scenario asks whether you would divert a trolley from hitting five people so that it hits one. The second scenario asks whether you would push an innocent bystander in front of a runaway trolley in order to stop it from hitting five people. Both scenarios involve sacrificing one life for five, so if we simply wanted to maximize the greatest good for the greatest number of people, then seemingly we would treat both scenarios the same. Yet most people are much less willing to push an innocent bystander in front of a trolley than they are willing to divert a trolley into a person on a side track. Perhaps there is more to morality than simply counting how many people are positively and negatively affected by your actions.

The Trolley Problem will cause you to question your understanding of what "the right thing to do" is - even if it doesn't provide you with all of the answers, it will leave you asking the right questions.