The hypo here does not include the compatibility of traveller with everyone but their mutual transplant incompatibility. One has to fight the hypo (invent things that were omitted in the hypo) here not to arrive at alternative answer (sacrifice one of the patients). I think it is rude to expect people to fight for your hypo; if you are meaning it that the sacrifice of traveller is the only solution, then state it explicitly.
edit:
Furthermore, I’m not arguing what is polite. I’m discussing what is rational thing to do.
There is example: someone asks me a question about electronics, with idealised components. I think of the real components that he likely has in mind, and see that the end result could burn down his house. I write an answer addressing a non-idealized circuit, perhaps outlining how to avoid the burn down house scenario. That person can find it impolite, of course, but it may often be a very good answer for that person to hear (and people are not very invested in their designs, usually, so it’s unlikely the person would be offended, and i would likely be thanked for that answer). The person may be talking hypothetically but in years since he may need to build this thing.
The organ transplant discussion is a thought experiment, not an engineering problem. Assuming away the practical difficulties in order to figure out what we think is “right” is the whole point of the conversation.
There are lots of moral theories that can easily justify letting the patients die. For example, Jewish law holds that people facing moral choices can violate (just about) any rule, but cannot kill. That’s not the utilitarian answer, but Rabbi Sacks would probably not be surprised to learn that he isn’t a utilitarian. If he nonetheless tried to assert he was a utilitarian by adding facts to the hypothetical, that’s rude. In short, the whole point is to learn about the shape of your ideas, not technical facts about medicine.
ETA: To be clear, my moral theory is not utilitarian.
Well, then take my post as a thought experiment as well. A thought experiment creating the situation where it could be right to consider the practical difficulties even though the person asking you the question wants you not to.
edit: in particular, here, the person asking that question IMO could be rather more enlightened by the unwanted answer than by just giving him the answer that he wants to hear: “Yes, fine, the utility is maximized by killing the traveller” (or by some un-utilitarian stuff that he can consider irrational). The conversation involves giving people answers they may not want to hear.
A person asking a question is always interested in additional relevant facts. What additional facts are relevant depends on whether the question is a thought-experience or more practical (like your engineering example). Not all facts are relevant all the time.
Well, I think it is relevant to the question if the explicit set-up in the question permits alternative solution distinct from those listed. I’m not much of utilitarian either but I do believe that real world complications are extremely relevant to the morality.
It’s actually a very odd/special form of question, to those who grew up on write in rather than multiple choice answers. Here the person asking the question himself selects, out of multitude of possible solutions, one as special. While it is rude in some cultures to assume that not all of the solution space was explored, in other cultures it is not.
The hypo here does not include the compatibility of traveller with everyone but their mutual transplant incompatibility. One has to fight the hypo (invent things that were omitted in the hypo) here not to arrive at alternative answer (sacrifice one of the patients). I think it is rude to expect people to fight for your hypo; if you are meaning it that the sacrifice of traveller is the only solution, then state it explicitly.
edit:
Furthermore, I’m not arguing what is polite. I’m discussing what is rational thing to do. There is example: someone asks me a question about electronics, with idealised components. I think of the real components that he likely has in mind, and see that the end result could burn down his house. I write an answer addressing a non-idealized circuit, perhaps outlining how to avoid the burn down house scenario. That person can find it impolite, of course, but it may often be a very good answer for that person to hear (and people are not very invested in their designs, usually, so it’s unlikely the person would be offended, and i would likely be thanked for that answer). The person may be talking hypothetically but in years since he may need to build this thing.
The organ transplant discussion is a thought experiment, not an engineering problem. Assuming away the practical difficulties in order to figure out what we think is “right” is the whole point of the conversation.
There are lots of moral theories that can easily justify letting the patients die. For example, Jewish law holds that people facing moral choices can violate (just about) any rule, but cannot kill. That’s not the utilitarian answer, but Rabbi Sacks would probably not be surprised to learn that he isn’t a utilitarian. If he nonetheless tried to assert he was a utilitarian by adding facts to the hypothetical, that’s rude. In short, the whole point is to learn about the shape of your ideas, not technical facts about medicine.
ETA: To be clear, my moral theory is not utilitarian.
Well, then take my post as a thought experiment as well. A thought experiment creating the situation where it could be right to consider the practical difficulties even though the person asking you the question wants you not to.
edit: in particular, here, the person asking that question IMO could be rather more enlightened by the unwanted answer than by just giving him the answer that he wants to hear: “Yes, fine, the utility is maximized by killing the traveller” (or by some un-utilitarian stuff that he can consider irrational). The conversation involves giving people answers they may not want to hear.
A person asking a question is always interested in additional relevant facts. What additional facts are relevant depends on whether the question is a thought-experience or more practical (like your engineering example). Not all facts are relevant all the time.
Well, I think it is relevant to the question if the explicit set-up in the question permits alternative solution distinct from those listed. I’m not much of utilitarian either but I do believe that real world complications are extremely relevant to the morality.
It’s actually a very odd/special form of question, to those who grew up on write in rather than multiple choice answers. Here the person asking the question himself selects, out of multitude of possible solutions, one as special. While it is rude in some cultures to assume that not all of the solution space was explored, in other cultures it is not.