Would You Kill the Fat Man?: The Trolley Problem and What Your Answer Tells Us about Right and Wrong Kindle Edition

My immediate thoughts were that the book “Would You Kill the Fat Man?” by David Edmonds was good. It introduced me to something called “Trolleyology” which I thought was a lot of fun. I feel it took a question that was easy to answer and showed me why that’s not always the case. It forced me to take a hard look at my reasoning; so maybe I would describe the book as enlightening. I would recommend the book to anyone that’s not a philosopher; I don’t think it introduces anything new to people who are familiar with the world of modern philosophy. But as someone who isn’t, I found all the references and demonstrations of the complexity of the problem interesting. I now find myself burdened with an extensive reading list.

This is an incredibly interesting book on Sociomoral Reasoning, ethics and the like, and believe it or not, any lay person would love it. AND I am not the author's mom, and in fact have never and will never meet the author, so this is unsolicited. I am going to use it in some graduate school presentations on Ethics and bought a copy for our Ethics professor. Fascinating read!!Jim Nolan

If you are the type of person who thinks you might like philosophy but also think those texts are just so darned esoteric, so inaccessible to your own experience, then WOULD YOU KILL THE FAT MAN? is for you. It makes the field of ethics interesting and accessible, on a very immediate level, through the use of various and deceptively simple thought experiments based on an impending trolley disaster.The premise is simple: A trolley is heading towards five people tied on the track. You can prevent their deaths by hitting a switch that will redirect the trolley onto an alternate track, on which lies a single person, also tied up. This scenario is tweaked numerous times in numerous ways and reveals some interesting results about people.Along this trolley ride, the authors address a number of issues and ideas. One of the more important is the Doctrine of Double Effect (DDE), with its distinction between intending and foreseeing, as written by Saint Thomas Aquinas. This idea is also simple yet incredibly profound, allowing us to ethically harm others in certain circumstances, if that harm is not our specific intent. A person can kill another in self-defense because, although the assailant’s death is foreseen, it was not the specific intent. Saving one’s own life was the intent, with the killing of another as the foreseen action to accomplish it. The DDE intuitively allows us to recognize the wrongness of such things as the killing of one healthy young man to provide organs to five people who would otherwise die.We also read of common ethical trains of thought, such as utilitarianism and its uses and limitations through trolley scenarios. The role of emotions in making ethical decision is also considered, with some philosophers arguing that reason only appears to take the starring role, with irrational emotions really doing all the hard work.The authors include a number of interesting real world situations that demonstrate that, although trolley thought experiments may be limited to academia, their implications are much broader. From the bombing of London and the attempt to trick the Nazis into bombing less populated areas of the city, to the famous tale of cannibalism on the high seas after one survivor picked the short straw, these situations are both interesting and illuminating.The book also describes some interesting distinctions between different groups of people in how they respond to trolley scenarios. My favorite is the distinction between conservatives and liberals with respect to the race of the person to be killed. Conservatives revealed no difference in whether they would or would not kill someone based on race. Liberals did. They were more likely to kill white people. Anyone familiar with modern liberals should not be surprised by this. Liberals attack conservatives as racist day and night, but it is all a matter of perspective. Yes, if you are more likely to kill white people, then others who do not make such racial distinctions do indeed seem racist by comparison!WOULD YOU KILL THE FAT MAN? becomes a tad tedious here and there. But the book is not very long and these parts pass quickly enough. In all, this is an interesting and readable book.

This is a survey of thought experiments that involve a trolley and a fat man (plus others). Actually I found the book uneven and could have benefited from better editing in order to convey an arc that would tie the stories together better. Unless you are a interested in moral philosophy, you may not find this as interesting as those of the of us who still ponder Kant and Bentham.

Fascinating hypotheticals that make you question why you think what you think. Plus, lots of material for cocktail conversations.

A must read for guidance to adjust a moral compass.

Great quality

A good summary and discussion of a standard ethics thought experiment.

A great book!Analyses different scenarios of a 'trolley problem' we're all familiar with, and looks for examples of such scenarios throughout history.Very easy to read, and 100% recommended to anyone who enjoys reading non-fiction literature.

A vital read to arm chair philosophers like me! Easy to follow with concepts that make you stop and think, I loved this book.

A lovely piece of writing. Reading about philosophy can make your brain hurt. Here Edmonds has done a huge amount of heavy lifting for you, and produced a book of fascinating material on far from straightforward concepts that is never anything but a joy to read. The man is a magician of the pen.

Fascinating history of trolleyology & summary of ethics , written in easy to read style - even has some trolley pictures - which do make some of the scenarios easier to understand !!

Great book, quite deep but very accessible.

Superb. Great introduction to some central problems in moral philosophy.

Stimolante e spesso divertente, ci aiuta a capire quanto NON sappiamo sulle motivazioni delle nostre scelte in campo etico, senza fornire ricette basate su una specifica posizione filosofica, nè tantomeno generalizzate scusanti a comportamenti considerati "moralmente inaccettabili", la cui inaccettabilità è però difficilmente dimostrabile su basi razionali.Suggerirei di leggerlo insieme a "Thinking, fast and slow" di Kahnemann, che lo ricorda per facilità e piacevolezza di lettura e per la capacità di analizzare scientificamente i nostri meccanismi decisionali più o meno razionali.

What is the moral choice? How do we make these decisions? This book is a highly readable, addicting, page-turner that serves as a great introduction to the philosophy of ethics. This one book has given birth to much further interest and further reading in Philosophy. The book covers things well, and is written for non-academics and under-graduates. The author uses real-world examples, thought-problems, and dashes of humour to make this a merry read.

A philosophy book you can actually read! And you don't need multiple degrees to interpret it either. Must read for today's AI folks

Cheguei a este livro através das obras de Michael Sandel. O livro aprofunda a questão acerca da justiça nas decisões tomadas pelas pessoas.

Muy buen libro. Informativo, divertido, ameno y didáctico del presentador del programa de divulgación británico Philosophy bites. Muy recomendable para cualqueir interesado en filosofía moral.

excellent book

David Edmond's "Would You Kill the Fat Man?" is a fascinating treatment of the ancient ethical dilemma facing those who have to choose between two dread options, seeking the greatest good for the majority of those to be involved. It will make a excellent study guide for a series of discussions by the "house group" that I host and lead for our local parish.