Graph: Trolley-style thought experiments lack evidential value for normative ethics because responses to them track framing artifacts rather than stable moral commitments

← back to claim Trolley-style thought experiments lack evidential value for normative ethics because responses to them track framing artifacts rather than stable moral commitments

evidence graph

depth 1 2 3 both pro con

Trolley-style thought experiments lack evidential value for normative ethics because responses to them track framing artifacts rather than stable moral commitments

[+0] validity 0.0 centrality 15.0 consensus 0 depth 0.0

experimental-philosophy metaethics moral-psychology philosophy virtues

supports (3)

[+0] Trolley intuitions are a cultural artifact of Anglophone analytic training and are absent in most human societies [i] anthropology experimental-philosophy

[+0] Verdicts on Footbridge shift 18 points when the victim is described as 'a large man' versus 'a person wearing a heavy backpack', despite causal structure being identical [i] experimental-philosophy moral-psychology

loading 1 more…

[+0] Order of presentation reverses majority verdicts on Footbridge in 31% of subjects (Lindqvist & Ojeda, 2020, N=4,812) [i] experimental-philosophy moral-psychology

loading 2 more…

opposes (3)

[+0] Normative arguments using trolley cases rely on the cases' conceptual structure rather than on survey majorities, so response instability is beside the point [i] metaphilosophy philosophy

[+0] Framing sensitivity of comparable magnitude affects perceptual judgments that nobody treats as evidentially worthless [i] epistemology methodology perception

loading 1 more…

[+0] The Switch/Footbridge asymmetry survives every framing manipulation tested in a 27-manipulation adversarial protocol (Ferreiro & Adeyemi, 2023, N=19,400) [i] adversarial-collaboration experimental-philosophy

loading 1 more…

inspector

Select a link’s inspect marker to see who asserted it, why, and what it cites.