What is the use of thought experiments?
“But thought experiments in ethics have nothing to do with thought experiments in physics! Their ultimate aim is not to help us to attain a better knowledge of reality, but to know if there are reasons to keep it as it is or to change it.” — Ruwen Ogien
This week our featured book is Human Kindness and the Smell of Warm Croissants: An Introduction to Ethics, by Ruwen Ogien, translated by Martin Thom. To get the feature started, we have excerpted Ogien’s Introduction, in which he discusses the value of thought experiments to the study of what is moral and what is not, looks back at what is perhaps the most famous moral thought experiment, and gives a quick overview of three ways of conceiving of morality.
Don’t forget to enter our book giveaway for Human Kindness and the Smell of Warm Croissants!