trolley problem

English

Etymology

Coined by American philosopher Judith Thomson.

Noun

trolley problem (plural trolley problems)

  1. A type of thought experiment in ethics and psychology, involving ethical dilemmas of whether to sacrifice one person to save a larger number.
    • 2015 October 9, Lauren Cassani Davis, “Would You Pull the Trolley Switch? Does it Matter?”, in The Atlantic‎:
      By the late ‘90s, trolley problems had fallen out of fashion. Many philosophers questioned the value of the conclusions reached by analyzing a situation so bizarre and specific.

See also

Further reading
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.