The central question of this class: Would you pull the lever? This offers an engaging and (hopefully) fun exploration of various moral and ethical frameworks through the iconic “trolley problem.” This thought experiment places us at both a literal and moral crossroads. Imagine standing by a fork in the tracks, as a train hurtles toward five individuals tied to the rails. You hold the power to pull a lever, diverting the train onto a different track—where only one person is tied. So, what do you do? Will you pull the lever and sacrifice one in order to save five? Or would you choose to let the train barrel down its current path? Our goal is to decode this complex scenario and explore how different philosophical approaches—utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics..etc—would approach a solution. While we might not reach a final consensus, you’ll gain all the tools you need for solving moral quandaries and on the fly sophistry.