I find this amusing and slightly disturbing—but the Trolley Problem seems like a terrible example. A rational person might answer based on political considerations, which “order effects” might change in everyday conversations.
Are you suggesting that moral philosophers, quizzed about their viewpoints on moral issues, answer non-truthfully in order to be politically correct or to avoid endorsing unpopular moral views?
If true, then we shouldn’t listen to anything moral philosophers ever say about their subject.
Very possibly. But I’m saying this seems more likely to happen with the Trolley Problem than with most philosophical questions, and even many disputed moral questions. It’s not a question of “endorsing unpopular moral views” in some abstract sense, but the social message that even a smart human being might take from the statement in an ordinary conversation.
I find this amusing and slightly disturbing—but the Trolley Problem seems like a terrible example. A rational person might answer based on political considerations, which “order effects” might change in everyday conversations.
Are you suggesting that moral philosophers, quizzed about their viewpoints on moral issues, answer non-truthfully in order to be politically correct or to avoid endorsing unpopular moral views?
If true, then we shouldn’t listen to anything moral philosophers ever say about their subject.
Very possibly. But I’m saying this seems more likely to happen with the Trolley Problem than with most philosophical questions, and even many disputed moral questions. It’s not a question of “endorsing unpopular moral views” in some abstract sense, but the social message that even a smart human being might take from the statement in an ordinary conversation.