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A Point of View: The Trolley Problem

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16/02/2018

The Trolley Problem

BBC Radio 4 - A Point of View, The Trolley Problem

AL Kennedy on how a thought experiment of the 1960s today risks being turned on its head.

AL Kennedy on how a famous thought experiment of the 1960s today risks being turned on its head.

In 1967, the philosopher Philippa Foot developed a thought experiment about a runaway trolley. It involved countless dilemmas designed to illustrate human behaviour. 

But whatever the scenario, the rhetoric was always the same....the overwhelming desire was for the trolley to kill fewer people and save more. 

AL Kennedy argues that today that rhetoric is in danger of being turned on its head. 

Producer: Adele Armstrong.

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