tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776899.post6192074577566228972..comments2024-03-06T03:15:58.539-05:00Comments on <b>THE NEW REFORM CLUB</b>: Trump and the problem with the Trolley ProblemHunter Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14961831404331998743noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776899.post-54693739210729270132016-10-13T12:51:49.215-04:002016-10-13T12:51:49.215-04:00A trolley problem is running headlong into an enti...A trolley problem is running headlong into an entire moral-psychologist's blog viewership. What do you do? <br /><br />____<br /><br />Yes, Johnson's setup is a false premise. And worthless besides. <br /><br />The conundrum is not that hard -- it's only hard when you state it in abstruse terms (deontology vs. consequentialism) and interpose it within a philosopher's puzzle like the trolley problem. The conundrum is we have to choose between VISIONS via a proxy of two PEOPLE. <br /><br />The VISIONS can be evaluated very straightforwardly -- and thus this is just like every other election. <br /><br />The PEOPLE are both nasty, both associated with accusations of immorality and criminality. <br /><br />Usually the candidates' pennies shine up pretty good so you can just make the choice on vision and maybe who you think has slightly better character. <br /><br />The moralists in this election -- and at the most amoral time in perhaps our whole history we're suddenly all very fussy moralists -- have made this election all character. But like every election, there's hardly any daylight between the candidates' character -- just instead of two shiny pennies we have two gum-smeared, diseased arcade tokens. <br /><br />So in the end, this should be no different than any other election: make the choice on vision and maybe who you think has slightly less awful character. <br /><br />My guess is the reason that isn't happening is we're not really visionary people after all. We're shiny penny people. And GOPe sorts are the shiniest penny people of them all -- they won't lend their vote even against the most ghoulish vision until they get their penny. Tim Kowalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02196125161888520769noreply@blogger.com