By rational I mean the traditional "by the numbers" type of people, not if the action (or inaction) is a rational choice. Pulling the lever is the obvious choi

By rational I mean the traditional "by the numbers" type of people, not if the action (or inaction) is a rational choice. Pulling the lever is the obvious choice for the rational type due to loss of less lives, a strictly numeric calculation with no regards to feelings. Discussing this problem with my G/F showed me a side which is from what I would call a "non-rational" or emotional person. Their choice not to pull the lever is just as rational to them, but not in the cold, hard, numeric way of the rational person. To them it is rational to not cause harm to others if they would never have been harmed, even if more people will be harmed in the end. It was a bit of a heated discussion that really made me stop and think about why this is such an important question. There is no right answer and each side is quick to justify exactly why their choice is the "right" choice. And the more you think about it the more you realize why both sides can think the way they do; a perfect philosophical question :) The comment about sociopaths pulling the lever was due to the test being given in prisons to people that were diagnosed as sociopaths. That was the choice that the majority of them took when given the test.