Are you living in “The Least Convenient of Possible Worlds”? It is surely conceivable that the man rationally considered his alternatives, and decided that the best thing he could do for the world was to kill himself and give the money from the life insurance policy to charity. Sure, it’s also possible that he was ill, and then the story changes, but that’s not what the story says. Or do you think thought experiments are inherently irresponsible?
Yes—I think just-so thought experiments about life with their built-in answers and embedded exclusions should be rejected outright. They have no friction, no gravity and say nothing of how you should spend the next hour of your life. They are like Hollywood action films—poison.
“The man in the story is obvioulsy ill.”
Are you living in “The Least Convenient of Possible Worlds”? It is surely conceivable that the man rationally considered his alternatives, and decided that the best thing he could do for the world was to kill himself and give the money from the life insurance policy to charity. Sure, it’s also possible that he was ill, and then the story changes, but that’s not what the story says. Or do you think thought experiments are inherently irresponsible?
Yes—I think just-so thought experiments about life with their built-in answers and embedded exclusions should be rejected outright. They have no friction, no gravity and say nothing of how you should spend the next hour of your life. They are like Hollywood action films—poison.