The Trolley Problem

A comprehensive and accessible guide to one of the most intensively discussed and controversial puzzles in contemporary moral philosophy.

Hallvard Lillehammer (Edited by)

9781009255592, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 March 2023

290 pages
24.4 x 17 x 1.5 cm, 0.49 kg

The Trolley Problem is one of the most intensively discussed and controversial puzzles in contemporary moral philosophy. Over the last half-century, it has also become something of a cultural phenomenon, having been the subject of scientific experiments, online polls, television programs, computer games, and several popular books. This volume offers newly written chapters on a range of topics including the formulation of the Trolley Problem and its standard variations; the evaluation of different forms of moral theory; the neuroscience and social psychology of moral behavior; and the application of thought experiments to moral dilemmas in real life. The chapters are written by leading experts on moral theory, applied philosophy, neuroscience, and social psychology, and include several authors who have set the terms of the ongoing debates. The volume will be valuable for students and scholars working on any aspect of the Trolley Problem and its intellectual significance.

Introduction Hallvard Lillehammer
1. Keeping track of your trolleys: origins and destinations Hallvard Lillehammer
2. Shunted trolleys and other diversions: solving Thomson's puzzles William J. FitzPatrick
3. Must we turn the trolley? Peter A. Graham
4. Nonconsequentialism in light of the trolley problem F. M. Kamm
5. Non-consequentialist principles under conditions of uncertainty: a framework Dana Kay Nelkin and Samuel C. Rickless
6. The trolley problem and the doing/allowing distinction Fiona Woollard
7. Virtue ethics and the trolley problem Liezl van Zyl
8. Trolley dilemmas from the philosopher's armchair to the psychologist's lab Guy Kahane and Jim A. C. Everett
9. Trolleyology: what it is, why it matters, what it's taught us, and how it's been misunderstood Joshua D. Greene
10. Cross-cultural responses to trolley problems and their implications for moral philosophy or: how I learned to stop worrying and love (constructivist) relativism Natalie Gold
11. Ethical accident algorithms for autonomous vehicles and the trolley problem: three philosophical disputes Sven Nyholm
12. A new trolley problem? Ezio Di Nucci
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Experimental psychology [JML], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]