Real-Life Trolley Experiment

http://www.livescience.com/17303-kill-1-save-morality-study.html

9/10 people apparently have consequentialist tendencies.

Pretty cool that this experiment was actually done!

Crying Wolf Over Elephants

Here's a link to the 1993 NY Times Magazine article by Raymond Bonner, "Crying Wolf Over Elephants." Would be interested to hear what anyone thinks about Bonner's assessment of the issue.

The Sorites Paradox and Continents

Yellowstone Snowmobile Controversy

Lots of interesting stuff out there about the Yellowstone snowmobile issue--and a GREAT topic for an optional third paper in the class if you are so inclined.

Here's a 9-minute video on YouTube that reviews the arguments on both sides of the issue. The description of the video reads:

Winters have heated up in Yellowstone as the controversy over snowmobiling has reached the national stage. Park ranger Mike Yochim offers a summary of the arguments, while two residents of West Yellowstone, opponents on the issue, speak out. Produced by Elliott Kennerson, 2008.

Great issue. Michael Yochim, the NPS ranger who put the video together, later wrote a book about the issue, Yellowstone and the Snowmobile: Locking Horns Over National Park Use (Univ. Kansas Pr., 2009).

The Trolley Problem: A Short Film

this is great--who would have thought that there was this much philosophy on YouTube!!

my thanks to Jesse D (former TA) for the heads up.

A look at Shelly Kagan

Hello everyone,

Below is the link to the videos of Professor Shelly Kagan's Philosophy class on "Death" at Yale. I thought it was interesting to "meet" our textbook's (Normative Ethics) author, because it helped me to make connections while I do the readings.

http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy

Best,

Douglas

The Truman Show and philosophy

There are any number of sites with philosophical discussion of The Truman Show on the web. Sam Vaknin's "Seahaven: A Moral Deliberation" focuses on the ethical side of things and is a pretty decent essay. I'm sure there are more--if you find any worth mentioning, please post a link here.

thanks.
Jim

Welcome!!

Hi everyone,
welcome to the Fall 2011 edition of "Intro to Ethics and Environment"!

Jim