Journal of Moral Philosophy 9 (4):545-571 (2012)
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Abstract |
Judith Jarvis Thomson recently argued that it is impermissible for a bystander to turn a runaway trolley from five onto one. But she also argues that a trolley driver is required to do just that. We believe that her argument is flawed in three important ways. She fails to give proper weight to (a) an agent¹s claims not to be required to act in ways he does not want to, (b) impartiality in the weighing of competing patient-claims, and (c) the role of patient-claims in determining agent-duties. All three of these failures can be understood in terms of what we call the Mechanics of Claims, an approach we develop for identifying and balancing competing claims in determining rights. Using that framework, one can see both why Thomson's most recent argument is mistaken, and how to think more clearly about deontological choices generally
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Keywords | Impartiality Duties Trolley Problem Rights Agents and Patients |
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DOI | 10.1163/174552412X628959 |
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References found in this work BETA
Killing, Letting Die, and the Trolley Problem.Judith Jarvis Thomson - 1976 - The Monist 59 (2):204-217.
The Just Distribution of Harm Between Combatants and Noncombatants.Jeff Mcmahan - 2010 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 38 (4):342-379.
Another Trip on the Trolley.Michael J. Costa - 1987 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 25 (4):461-466.
Another Trip on the Trolley.Michael J. Costa - 1987 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 25 (4):461-466.
Citations of this work BETA
Lesser-Evil Justifications for Harming: Why We’Re Required to Turn the Trolley.Helen Frowe - 2018 - Philosophical Quarterly 68 (272):460-480.
II—Claim Rights, Duties, and Lesser-Evil Justifications.Helen Frowe - 2015 - Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 89 (1):267-285.
The moral irrelevance of moral coercion.Helen Frowe - 2021 - Philosophical Studies 178 (11):3465-3482.
How (and How Not) to Defend Lesser-Evil Options.Kerah Gordon-Solmon - forthcoming - Journal of Moral Philosophy:1-22.
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