Quote:
Suppose you were operating a subway network and one of the trains has a brake failure. If you do nothing it hits the end of the tunnel and everyone on the train dies. You can also throw a switch to send it into a long narrow abandoned stretch of tunnel (so that the train can coast to a stop) that is closed for maintenance and inevitably flatten a lone construction worker. What do you do?
Suppose you had been one of Hitler's inner circle and had the chance to plant a bomb under his desk. If you do nothing, millions of people will die. If you do kill him, then your level-headed friend takes over and the war ends without further bloodshed but an innocent secretary will also be in the same room as the bomb when it goes off. What do you do]
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I would say that is more an argument about Utilitarian Ethics than end justifing the means. Greatest good for the greatest number and all that. I suppose they are interlinced anyway.