Chapter 79: The Trolley Problem Solved

The trolley problem and its variants are resolved by proper typing and the structural tests of the preceding chapters. In the boundary-symmetric case — where all persons are already within the boundary of risk and the agent must distribute unavoidable harm — equal dignity requires equal individual risk, yielding a label-independent lottery. The Trolley Resolution (VII.P17) proves that the switch and footbridge variants differ not in moral intuition but in boundary type: symmetric vs. asymmetric. Most trolley variants arise from ambiguous typing of the action, and dissolve once the boundary conditions are made explicit.