It's World Philosophy Day! So the BBC posted 4 questions to make your brain hurt...
For the Philosopher Readers you might yawn and say you know all this but for everybody else there is a glimpse at what you have to go through when you study philosophy. :-)
1 comment:
Well, the first question is the one, that makes my brain hurt the most. And my following text should make your language center hurt, if you are an English native speaker.
But let's return to David Bain's first question, "why not kill Bill?"
I guess that the examples to kill one for the sake of five, they are not truely to answer with "Yes, kill one!" for moral aspects. It is not your own moral decision, which hostages the kidnapper shoots, but it is the kidnapper's decision. And it's not your fault, that someone has a different number of people "tied to the track" of a runaway tram.
In neither case, you are bound to help the five by killing the one. If you take a German Autobahn, you are not legally obligated to help five people by risking your own life or the life of another one guy. You are obligated to help, but only if not risking further lifes. Well, that's moral.
You are not obligated to kill one hostage to save the life of five hostages.
You are not obliged to kill one on the track to the left to save five on the track ahead.
You are not obligated to kill Bill to save the life of five people in need of an organ transplantation.
But now, my brain hurts. I need a new one. Who volunteers?
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