Research Guides: How to Be Perfect (First Year Read, 2023): Thought Experiments

The Trolley Problem

Originally written by Philippa Foot, later named the "trolley problem" by Judith Jarvis Thomson.

The doctrine of double effect offers us a way out of the difficulty, insisting that it is one thing to steer towards someone foreseeing that you will kill him and another to aim at his death as part of your plan. (Foot, 1967)

"The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect" (P. Foot, 1967)
Read the article where Philippa Foot first describes what would later be known as the Trolley Problem.
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Foot, P. (1967). The problem of abortion and the doctrine of the double effect. Oxford Review 5, 5-15.
Available open access on PhilArchive.org.
"Killing, Letting Die, and The Trolley Problem" (J. J. Thomson, 1976)
Read the original article in which Judith Jarvis Thomson coined the phrase "the trolley problem" to describe Philippa Foot's thought experiment.
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Thomson, J. J. (1976). Killing, letting die, and the Trolley Problem. The Monist, 59(2), 204–217.

The Trolley Problem: What would you do??

Absurd Trolley Problems (N. Agarwal)
This computer game by Neal Agarwal (@nealagarwal) asks you progressively sillier problems involving trolleys.
And check out the rest of neal.fun for some other neat stuff!

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Philippa Foot (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
The SEP entry for Philippa Foot, the philosopher who first posed the question of the out-of-control trolley.
The Trolley Problem (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
The SEP discusses the Trolley Problem as part of a larger entry about Doing vs. Allowing Harm.

The Trolley Problem in The Good Place

The Violinist Problem

Originally posed by Judith Jarvis Thomson.

"A Defense of Abortion" (J. J. Thomson, 1971)
Read the 1971 article where Judith Jarvis Thomson first lays out the violinist problem as a thought experiment for a common claim about abortion.
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Thomson, J. J. (1971). A defense of abortion. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 1(1), 47–66.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Violinist Problem (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
The SEP discusses the violinist problem as part of a larger entry on Thought Experiments.

How to Be Perfect (First Year Read, 2023)

The Trolley Problem

The Trolley Problem: What would you do??

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Trolley Problem in The Good Place

The Violinist Problem

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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