[lit-ideas] Re: On being called a Lyre [dilemmas]

Scientists seduced by the allure of brain science and intrigued by moral
reasoning report that people prefer to "push a button" rather than shove
somebody to his/her death as means to the attainment of the same end (i.e. save
all the inhabitants of Texas). (Note how similar this is to the Milgram studies.
All is the same except that the button is now deference to authority.)
Apparently the levels of emotional response by subjects are significantly less
in the former case than in the latter. ("Response" being operationalized as
blood flow to particular areas of the brain.)

Still not willing to quit his day job,

Walter O.



Quoting Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>:

> Robert: 'A trolley is running out of control down a 
> track. In its path are 5 people who have been tied to 
> the track by a mad philosopher. Fortunately, you can 
> flip a switch which will lead the trolley down a 
> different track to safety. Unfortunately, there is a 
> single person tied to that track. Should you flip the 
> switch?
> 
> 
> 
> These dilemmas always seem to presuppose facts not in 
> evidence for persons living outside of thought 
> experiments. (This is one. The Baby or the Botticelli 
> is another.)
> 
> How would a moralist address someone who rejects 
> Philippa's premise? Can one make a moral decision to 
> turn away from the trolley, the tracks, the five tied 
> people, the single tied person, and the switch? Is it a 
> moral decision to declare that one is inside the vision 
> of a mad philosopher and refuse to acknowledge the 
> switch because it is not there?
> 
> "I cannot possibly know the things required to make a 
> moral decision," one might object. "I cannot see the 
> tied people in the distance or predict the outcome of 
> flipping a switch. Nor, absent knowledge of any other 
> safeguards in place on the trolley, can I sacrifice one 
> person to save five, when I have no way of knowing that 
> my sacrifice will be effective or even necessary."
> 
> Is that a moral decision or an ontological one? Does it 
> matter which?
> 
> 
> Eric
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