The Trolley Problem on Campus: Manufactured Moral Clarity |
And since, as Swift says, it is futile to reason someone out of a thing that he was not reasoned into, we can conclude that Marxism owes its remarkable power to survive every criticism to the fact that it is not a truth-directed but a power-directed system of thought.
And since, as Swift says, it is futile to reason someone out of a thing that he was not reasoned into, we can conclude that Marxism owes its remarkable power to survive every criticism to the fact that it is not a truth-directed but a power-directed system of thought.
Roger Scruton (A Political Philosophy. Continuum, 2006.)
The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest.
The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest.
Mon Mothma Speech in the Senate, Andor S2E9
My ethics students are particularly fond of the so-called Trolley Problem — the philosophical thought experiment introduced by Philippa Foot and later popularized by television shows such as The Good Place. The scenario is familiar: a runaway trolley is about to kill five people. You can pull a lever to divert it onto a side track where it will kill only one. Do you intervene, actively causing a single death to save five, or do you refrain, allowing the five to die and accepting responsibility for the consequences of inaction? The exercise is meant to illuminate the tension between utilitarian reasoning — the greatest good for the greatest number — and deontological principles that forbid certain acts, such as the killing of innocents, regardless of outcomes.
My own first encounter with a version of this dilemma came not in a philosophy classroom but in 1982, while watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The dying Mr. Spock, having sacrificed himself to save his crewmates, consoles Admiral Kirk with the words: “It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” In the sequel, the equation is reversed. Once Spock’s body is resurrected, his friends risk everything to bring him back, with Kirk explaining to a confused Spock that “the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.”
It may seem odd to begin an analysis of contemporary institutional life with a reference to science-fiction cinema. Yet the phenomenon I wish to describe belongs to the realm of performance and aesthetic appeal — of narrative, symbolism, and enjoyment. The language of “the many” and “the few” has migrated........