2/2/07
thought experiments gone mental
Some readers will be familiar with an ethical dilemma called "The Trolley Problem" that was originally imagined by Phillipa Foot and discussed at length by Judith Jarvis Thomson and others in various philosophical journals and law reviews. I recently came across this parody that uses the trolley problem as a template and alludes to a variety of other famous problems. There always seems a way, in normative ethics, to tweak the example just a bit more, to derive an even more unbelievably unattractive scenario.
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3 comments:
Yes please!
that sort of thought experiment is a fine example of the lifeboat fallacy.
fun reading.
I enjoyed imagining being able to really sort this out. It reminded me of a story Paul read to me from his tort law textbook. One had to determine what to do about a man who caused an accident while running away from another individual bent on murder or osmething along that line.
Now I'm curious about the original trolley story.
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