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Philosophy Summarized

A series of posts summarizing current results in the field of Philosophy.
Part 1: The Thought Experiment:

Robot sees bird

If a train full of people whom you believe own Fords, but do not in fact own Fords, is traveling through a countryside full of fake barns, and is about to go off a cliff, and you can save these people by switching them to a track where the train will kill only one man, who has enough good organs to save the lives of 5 speluncean explorers who need organ transplants and are trapped in a cave and are committing acts of cannibalism, are you justified in lying to a murderer who comes to your door and attaches you to a dying violinist?

(Note: The experiment works better if you’re drinking twater with some antipodeans who’ve had their brains transplanted into the bodies of people who are either going to be tortured or given a million dollars if they get in a teletransporter that sends them to a room where they use an instruction manual to translate Chinese into English.)

2 Responses to “Philosophy Summarized”

  1. AQUAMAN Says:

    I know who’s in Barcelona. It’s Peter.

  2. Colin Hall Says:

    Lying to murderers is against my philosophy.

    Can we kill ’em all and save the train ? I like trains 😉

    Think of all the organs !

    I think that I get a real hit from cheap chardonnay … am I crazy ?

    p.s. Nice blog ;-)))

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