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Discussion Post

Prompts

Philosophers often use a tool called a "thought experiment" to explore our intuitions and to challenge different views. Thought experiments present situations that tend to be very unrealistic. By exploring those situations, we are able to learn new things about the world, about certain ideas, or about ourselves.

In the following prompts, we will consider two thought experiments designed to help us understand key differences between two moral frameworks, namely Kant's Formula of Ends and Mill's Utilitarianism. In these prompts, characters in the thought experiments consider doing things that most of us would agree are highly unethical. The interesting question is: Why would it be unethical? What moral values are being violated here? If we can figure that out, then we can discover something about morality that we can apply to more realistic situations later.

Pick one prompt below to answer. After you finish the reading, type out your answer. After you take the Reading Quiz, you can post your answer to the Discussion Board by pasting it in as a "reply." (Discussion Prompts are also listed in the Module Guide and Checklist.)

You will be posting before you watch the lectures, so it is expected that your views will change. Do not edit your initial post, but rather describe the change in your thoughts in your replies and responses to your own post. We are all explorers here.

Prompt I

Thought experiment #1. Imagine a doctor has discovered that a patient has a fatal illness. If the doctor is truthful and tells the patient he is probably going to die, then the patient will become depressed and will increase his chances of dying. But if she lies and tells the patient that the prognosis looks good, then the patient has a very slightly better chance of recovering (although it is still a slim chance).

1. Based on the Module 2 reading, what would Kant's Formula of Ends require the doctor to? Why?

2. Based on the Module 2 reading, what would Mill's Principle of Utility require the doctor to do? Why?

3. If you were the patient, what would you prefer your doctor did? Why?

In your answer, be creative and include different factors that you might not think of at first. What matters is not what you answer, but the reasons you give for your answer and how well you connect your reasons to a moral framework.

Or

Prompt II

Thought experiment #2. A patient comes in complaining of a bad cold. You give them some treatments, and get ready to send them on their way, since they are otherwise quite healthy. However, you remember that you have five patients in the other room who desperately need new organs - heart, kidney, lung, pancreas, and intestines. From the patient's record, you see that the cold patient is a match for all five patients, but the cold patient cannot live without these organs.

1. At first glance, what would Kant's Formula of Ends require you to do, based on the Module 2 reading? Why?

2. At first glance, what would Mill's Principle of Utility require you to do, based on the Module 2 reading? Why?

3. This is a classic thought experiment that raises some problems for the Principle of Utility. What are the problems, and how could Mill get around them?