Below is a video of the trailer for the 1995 movie Outbreak, which can be seen as a version of the Trolley Problem on a grand Hollywood scale, and which is oddly similar in many ways to this past year and the global pandemic. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this movie, the central plot line of this film revolves around a lethal and fast-acting virus that has found its way into the small coastal town of Cedar Creek, California. The virus must be contained as it kills most who contract it within a few days and sometimes hours. As the race to contain the virus faces obstacles, governmental authorities decide to use a special bomb that will destroy the town of Cedar Creek and thus contain the virus. This decision and much of the dialogue of the governmental authorities is driven by utilitarian reasoning and “the ends justifies the means” type of reasoning that it contains.
After viewing the trailer, address the following items in your initial or primary post:
Discuss whether and you agree with the utilitarian choice to destroy the town of Cedar Creek and kill its roughly 3,000 citizens. If you agree, explain why your choice is morally justified. If you disagree, explain why your choice is morally justified knowing that it is a choice that will bring about the death of perhaps more than two hundred million people.
Reflect on your response to the above question by thinking through as best as you can how you might have answered the question if 2019 through the present had come and gone with no virus or global pandemic. Do you think you would have answered the question differently? What might have been different about your response?
Present your own movie or television show (include a brief clip) or novel or real life scenario in which contains clear elements of utilitarian reasoning.
Briefly summarize the plot or main character and the utilitarian reasoning in the movie, show, etc. that you have chosen.
Explain the scenario and the utilitarian choice they are faced with and discuss whether or not you agree with the choice. If you agree with the utilitarian choice explain why you find it morally justified; if you disagree with it, explain why it is not morally justified.
Evaluate utilitarianism. In light of your application of this ethical theory to the movie Outbreak and your own example (as well is in the Trolley Problem), briefly discuss what you see to be the most important strength or weakness of utilitarianism.
