There’s an old-school interactive video game version of the moral puzzle known as the Trolley Problem. I can’t embed it, but go here to play (if that’s the right word). Just takes a few minutes.
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The opening of a 2003 interview the Harvard Review of Philosophy conducted with the moral philosopher Philippa Foot, who introduced her famed Trolley Problem in 1967:
“HRP: At the beginning of Natural Goodness, you recall an intervention of Wittgenstein’s at a seminar at which a speaker realized that what he was about to say was, though seductive, clearly ridiculous. The speaker was trying to hit on something more sensible, and Wittgenstein said: ‘No. Say what you want to say! Be crude, and then we shall get on.’ Why do you think this is good advice for philosophers?
Philippa Foot: I begin Natural Goodness with this remark, since I have found it excellent advice. Whenever I find myself tempted to pass over a weird thought, I try to do the opposite, and give this thought its day in court. So I advise people to stick with their seductive but really ridiculous thoughts, because one may well strike gold just there.”
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See also:
- Judith Jarvis Thompson’s Trolly Problem variation, the Fat Man problem.
Tags: Judith Jarvis Thompson, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philippa Foot