Fear

As President Obama recently said to Marilynne Robinson, there is a spike in fear within the US right now. There seems to be widespread disquiet even in our wealthy and sophisticated metropolises. Outside of them, disquiet seems to have turned into outright fear, as the articles about the early death of middle aged white men suggest. And fear seems to underlie the mysterious appeal of the many loony and mean-minded Republican Presidential candidates and governors. Such fearfulness, which paradoxically come at a time of nearly unprecedented peace and well being, causes people to turn ugly and behave exactly contrary to the moral codes of their religions. Fortunately, we are a diverse and democratic nation. Although vicious and greedy demagogues aim to profit by fanning fears and hatred, as in Houston, plenty of us do not let fear shape our behavior, and we have plenty of kind, decent, and admirable leaders in the Lincoln and FDR mode to inspire the better angels of our nature.

The Trolley Car Dilemma is False

I was reading a review in the recent NYRB of a book by the man who invented the "trolley problem," Joshua Greene, which shows that many people refuse to kill one man, even though it would save 5 people. A runaway trolley car containing 5 passengers can be diverted if you push a man off a bridge into its path. If you don't do that, the car will crash and kill the passengers. What do you do? 

The "trolley car" problem has become a widely used thought experiment in philosophy classes. For example, Michael Sandel starts his MOOC course on justice with it.    Greene talks about the psychological difference between active agency and passivity. But I think the setup is falsely rigged. The problem presents the deaths as a certainty, a "fact." But anyone in the position of the man who has to kill to save the 5 would not see it as a certainty, but just as a possibility. Consequently, the trolley problem poses a false dilemma.