A runaway trolley approaches five people. You can divert it to a track where only one person stands.
Divert the trolley. One death is fewer than five. The math is clear.
Do nothing. Actively causing a death is categorically different from failing to prevent one.
A friend asks your honest opinion about work they have spent years creating. Your honest assessment would devastate them.
Tell the truth. Genuine respect demands honesty, even when it hurts.
Be kind. Compassion outweighs candor when the stakes are emotional.
A family member commits a serious crime. You have evidence. No one else will ever know if you choose silence.
Report them. Justice is abstract and universal; it cannot bend for those we love.
Stay silent. The duty to family supersedes abstract principles of law.
A limitation on personal liberty would dramatically improve public health and security for millions. The restriction harms no one directly.
Accept the limitation. The greatest good for the greatest number is the foundation of ethics.
Reject it. Individual autonomy is inviolable; it cannot be traded for collective outcomes.
The answers you give reveal who you are becoming.