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Will You Kill the Fat Man?

(uk) David Edmonds

87K7.929

A train was speeding towards five people tied to the tracks. Unless it could be stopped, those five people would die. At this time, you are standing on the overpass looking down, watching the tragedy that is about to happen. Standing next to you is a strange fat man. You can choose to push him off the bridge and he will fall on the rails. Although he will die, his fat body will block the moving train, thus saving the lives of those five people. So, will you choose to kill the fat man? This question may seem odd, but it's a classic variation of a philosophical puzzle known as the trolley problem. This puzzle has puzzled philosophers for half a century. Philosophers and sociologists have used this question to discuss ethical dilemmas such as abortion, war, and issues such as sacrificing the few for the sake of the many. Recently, it has further attracted the attention of neuroscientists, psychologists and other thinkers. By telling fascinating stories, this book tells readers why and how philosophers grappled with this philosophical puzzle, and the answer to this question will tell us a lot about right and wrong. The author discusses: Can the quantity of life or the quality of life be used as a criterion for measuring interests? Is it really the right answer for the minority to obey the majority? The author writes at the end of the book that he would not choose to push the fat man off the bridge, but he asks the reader "Would you kill the fat man?"