From the bestselling coauthor of Wittgenstein's Poker, a fascinating tour through the history of moral philosophyA runaway train is racing toward five men who are tied to the track. Unless the train is stopped, it will inevitably kill all five men. You are standing on a footbridge looking down on the unfolding disaster. However, a fat man, a stranger, is standing next to you: if you push him off the bridge, he will topple onto the line and, although he will die, his chunky body will stop the train, saving five lives. Would you kill the fat man?The question may seem bizarre. But it's one variation of a puzzle that has baffled moral philosophers for almost half a century and that more recently has come to preoccupy neuroscientists, psychologists, and other thinkers as well. In this book, David Edmonds, coauthor of the bestselling Wittgenstein's Poker, tells the riveting story of why and how philosophers have struggled with this ethical dilemma, sometimes called the trolley problem. In the process, he provides an entertaining and informative tour through the history of moral philosophy. Most people feel it's wrong to kill the fat man. But why? After all, in taking one life you could save five. As Edmonds shows, answering the question is far more complex-and important-than it first appears. In fact, how we answer it tells us a great deal about right and wrong.

List of Figures xiPrologue xiiiAcknowledgments xvPart 1 Philosophy and the TrolleyChapter 1 Churchill's Dilemma 3Chapter 2 Spur of the Moment 8Chapter 3 The Founding Mothers 13Chapter 4 The Seventh Son of Count Landulf 26Chapter 5 Fat Man, Loop, and Lazy Susan 35Chapter 6 Ticking Clocks and the Sage of Königsberg 44Chapter 7 Paving the Road to Hell 57Chapter 8 Morals by Numbers 69Part 2 Experiments and the TrolleyChapter 9 Out of the Armchair 87Chapter 10 It Just Feels Wrong 94Chapter 11 Dudley's Choice and the Moral Instinct 108Part 3 Mind and Brain and the TrolleyChapter 12 The Irrational Animal 127Chapter 13 Wrestling with Neurons 135Chapter 14 Bionic Trolley 153Part 4 The Trolley and Its CriticsChapter 15 A Streetcar Named Backfire 169Chapter 16 The Terminal 175Appendix Ten Trolleys: A Rerun 183Notes 193Bibliography 205Index 213