The "Bystander at the Switch" Revisited? Ethical Implications of the Government Strategies Against COVID-19.

S Stelios, K N Konstantakis, P G Michaelides

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Journal of bioethical inquiry, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

S SteliosDepartment of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens, Zographos Campus, GR-15780, Athens, Greece. stelioss@mail.ntua.gr.ORCID 0000-0002-1505-9211

K N KonstantakisDepartment of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens, Zographos Campus, GR-15780, Athens, Greece.ORCID 0000-0001-6837-332X

P G MichaelidesDepartment of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens, Zographos Campus, GR-15780, Athens, Greece.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Suppose COVID-19 is the runaway tram in the famous moral thought experiment, known as the "Bystander at the Switch." Consider the two differentiated responses of governments around the world to this new threat, namely the option of quarantine/lockdown and herd immunity. Can we contrast the hypothetical with the real scenario? What do the institutional decisions and strategies for dealing with the virus, in the beginning of 2020, signify in a normative moral framework? This paper investigates these possibilities in order to highlight the similarities and, more importantly, the differences that exist between utilitarianism and Kantian ethics. Analysis shows that the hypothetical scenario can never be fully compared to the complex multifactorial nature of the real world. But if a comparison is attempted, the most obvious difference between the two governmental strategies is the concept of duty within the Kantian perspective. Ultimately, it is a matter of comparing freedom and life. Attributing a moral "priority ticket" to one or the other can be analysed through interpersonal aggregation.

Indexed as

COVID-19GovernmentQuarantineSARS-CoV-2Communicable Disease ControlEthical TheoryFreedomHumansImmunity, HerdMoral ObligationsMoralsPandemicsBystander at the switchCOVID-19Herd immunityKantian ethicsQuarantineTrolley problemUtilitarianism

Identifiers

PMID38358585

DOI10.1007/s11673-023-10328-6

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.