The Art of Iffing
A theoretical experiment that tests a hypothesis.
What is a Thought Experiment?
Phillipa Foot.
Who is the moral philosopher that first posed the Trolley Problem?
Socrates and Glaucon.
Who are the two men that discussed the Ring of Gyges?
Peter Singer.
Who is the man who first devised The Pond?
Garrett Hardin.
Who was the man who first devise the lifeboat?
Heuristic, Critical, and Apologetic.
What are the three types of thought experiments?
1967.
What year was The Trolley Problem first posited?
c. 375 BC.
What year was The Ring of Gyges first discussed?
1972.
What year was The Pond first discussed?
1974.
What year was the Lifeboat first discussed?
They both test hypotheses.
What do science experiments and thought experiments have in common?
Deontology.
What is the rule based philosophical doctrine that argues you should not pull the lever?
People are inherently good, and virtue and justice are intrinsically valuable.
What did Socrates and/or JJ Rousseau argue?
You are walking past a Pond, and you can choose whether or not to save a drowning child.
What was the narrative of the Pond?
If people take more than they should, everyone will suffer.
What is The Tragedy of the Commons?
They cannot, or should not, be tested in real life.
What is different between science experiments and thought experiments?
Consequentialism.
What is the consequences based philosophical doctrine that says you should pull the lever?
People are inherently evil.
What did Glaucon and/or Thomas Hobbes think?
You don't have to give up your life to help the poor.
What did Singer argue about our obligations to the poor?
Rich countries cannot, not are they obliged, to help poor countries.
What did Hardin argue about our obligations to the poor?
Ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, logic, politics and aesthetics.
What are the seven branches of philosophy that thought experiments test?
How do we value life and moral rules?
What is the question The Trolley Problem asks of us?
Are virtue and justice intrinsically valuable?
What did The Ring of Gyges ask us?
If we can help, we are obliged to help (as effectively as possible).
What does effective altruism argue?
We cannot help if it will result in our own suffering.
What does Lifeboat Ethics argue?