Summary Of Would You Kill The Fat Man By David Edmonds

Introduction

Would You Kill The Fat Man? by David Edmonds analyzes the human perception of what is right or wrong. Edmonds is an expert in the field known as “trolleyology” which tries to utilize our instinctive reactions to different moral situations to determine our essential moral standards and moral psychology. In the first half of the book, the author provides historical context on the emergence of trolleyology and its development. He explains the significance of moral psychology and philosophy. Edmonds presents the trolley scenario with several variations to “test our moral intuitions” and explores the many factors that can influence our interpretations of the variations (p. xiii). Edmonds gives us thought provoking scenarios that makes one reconsider their perspective.

Background Information

She introduced the “Trolley Problem,” and moral thought experiment that provides insight on the human thought process. The book starts by introducing the first tolley scenario, referred to among tolleyologists as Spur. In the trolley experiment, there is an uncontrollable trolley heading down the tracks. Furthermore, you see that if nothing is done it will proceed to kill five people down the way. Additionally, you catch sight of a lever that will divert the trolley to a side-track, spur, and on the side-track there is one person attached. If you decide not do anything then the five people would be executed however, if you pulled the lever only one person would be killed. Spur scenario is an ethical dilemma in which one has to choose between letting five people be killed or choosing to kill the one. Another case is the Loop in which the Fat Man would be a means to an end . For this case, you would be viewing the Fat Man as an object rather than a human being. If you decide to push him, you are using him as a means to stop the train without a consideration of his