The Pandemic Doesn’t Run on Trolley Tracks: A Comment on Eyal's Essay Beware the Trolley Zealots""

The Pandemic Doesn’t Run on Trolley Tracks: A Comment on Eyal's Essay Beware the Trolley Zealots""

Cansu Canca

The COVID-19 pandemic raises various ethical questions, one of which is the question of when and how countries should move from lockdown to reopening. In his paper “Beware the Trolley Zealots” (2020), Gil Eyal looks at this question, arguing against a trolley problem approach and utilitarian reasoning. In this commentary, I show that his position suffers from misunderstanding the proposed policies and the trolley problem and asserting moral conclusions without moral justifications.

2020

coronavirus, covid-19, Health policy, utilitarianism, Trolley Problem, population-level bioethics

10.6092/issn.1971-8853/11412

Epidemiology and Health

Korean Society of Epidemiology

Sociology (General), Social Sciences