Would You Kill the Fat Man?
Would You Kill the Fat Man?

Author: David Edmonds

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2013-10-06

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1400848385

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From the bestselling coauthor of Wittgenstein's Poker, a fascinating tour through the history of moral philosophy A runaway train is racing toward five men who are tied to the track. Unless the train is stopped, it will inevitably kill all five men. You are standing on a footbridge looking down on the unfolding disaster. However, a fat man, a stranger, is standing next to you: if you push him off the bridge, he will topple onto the line and, although he will die, his chunky body will stop the train, saving five lives. Would you kill the fat man? The question may seem bizarre. But it's one variation of a puzzle that has baffled moral philosophers for almost half a century and that more recently has come to preoccupy neuroscientists, psychologists, and other thinkers as well. In this book, David Edmonds, coauthor of the bestselling Wittgenstein's Poker, tells the riveting story of why and how philosophers have struggled with this ethical dilemma, sometimes called the trolley problem. In the process, he provides an entertaining and informative tour through the history of moral philosophy. Most people feel it's wrong to kill the fat man. But why? After all, in taking one life you could save five. As Edmonds shows, answering the question is far more complex—and important—than it first appears. In fact, how we answer it tells us a great deal about right and wrong.

Philosophy Within Its Proper Bounds
Philosophy Within Its Proper Bounds

Author: Edouard Machery

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 019880752X

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In Philosophy Within Its Proper Bounds, Edouard Machery argues that resolving many traditional and contemporary philosophical issues is beyond our epistemic reach and that philosophy should re-orient itself toward more humble, but ultimately more important intellectual endeavors. Any resolution to many of these contemporary issues would require an epistemic access to metaphysical possibilities and necessities, which, Machery argues, we do not have. In effect, then, Philosophy Within Its Proper Bounds defends a form of modal skepticism. The book assesses the main philosophical method for acquiring the modal knowledge that the resolution of modally immodest philosophical issues turns on: the method of cases, that is, the consideration of actual or hypothetical situations (which cases or thought experiments describe) in order to determine what facts hold in these situations. Canvassing the extensive work done by experimental philosophers over the last 15 years, Edouard Machery shows that the method of cases is unreliable and should be rejected. Importantly, the dismissal of modally immodest philosophical issues is no cause for despair - many important philosophical issues remain within our epistemic reach. In particular, reorienting the course of philosophy would free time and resources for bringing back to prominence a once-central intellectual endeavor: conceptual analysis.

Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents and of the United States Courts in Patent and Trade-mark and Copyright Cases
Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents and of the United States Courts in Patent and Trade-mark and Copyright Cases

Author: United States. Patent Office

Publisher:

Published: 1898

Total Pages: 928

ISBN-13:

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"Compiled from Official gazette. Beginning with 1876, the volumes have included also decisions of United States courts, decisions of Secretary of Interior, opinions of Attorney-General, and important decisions of state courts in relation to patents, trade-marks, etc. 1869-94, not in Congressional set." Checklist of U. S. public documents, 1789-1909, p. 530.