The moral difference between Camilla’s and Bob’s situation is that one has a choice while the other one doesn’t. Both these characters are playing the role of “god” which brings in the ethical principle of divine command theory. This circumstance could also have the ethical principle of egoism because they’re both making decisions based on their own self-interest to have a peace of mind. Camilla chooses to push the man onto the tracks to slow the train down in time for the other five workers to survive, when she could’ve easily walked away and pretended like nothing happened. Bob, on the other hand, has no choice because no matter what he does, the outcome will still be the same. So with that being said, he believes that saving 5 lives to 1 is the best result in this scenario. But if you really want to argue about it, Bob and Camilla’s actions are both not guaranteed. The man that Camilla pushed may not be enough to slow down the train and the lever that Bob pulled could’ve had technical difficulties causing the ending result to change. Most people would think that Bob’s actions are more permissible because, he did not physically take someone’s life. Both Bob and Camilla are playing the role of “god” because they’re interfering with the worker’s natural fate. They’re both making choices on who gets to live and who gets to die, where not everyone can be saved. They’re also making decisions based on their own self-interest. If Bob were to walk away from the scene he would have to live with a bad conscience that he let all those men die, same with Camilla. They both acted upon instinct for their own peace of mind.
An argument people would likely bring up is that both Bob and Camilla’s actions are not guaranteed. When Camilla decided to push the man onto the track it could easily not be enough to slow down the train in time for the other five workers to escape and get out of the way. But another argument could be that the man she pushed onto the track would alert the train operator to pull on the brake which would slow down the train in time to save the others. Bob, meanwhile, could have technical difficulties when pulling the lever. His intended outcome may not work out because the train would keep going to the five workers on the track. Yet, another argument may be that the loud sound from the train coming towards them may just alert them to get out of the way. There are so many possible ways that people can argue about this situation so there’s no true right answer.
Most people prefer Bob’s choice over Camilla’s because he did not