The Trolley Problem and Self-Defense

I realize that the main focus here at the Garden is usually on issues pertaining to free will and moral responsibility, but since there is a special category for The Trolley Problem, I figured I would post a draft of a short piece I am working on about the trolley problem and self-defense.  Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.  Just be gentle--it's still a little rough around the edges.  But before I do any more work on it, I thought I would see what the gardeners think about the general strategy I adopt first.  Thanks in advance!

Download trolley_problem_revisited.pdf

Book on the Future

I'm at home and don't feel like going to my office, so I'm calling on the collective wisdom of the rest of you.  There is an example that gets used in the free will literature about a person who pulls a book off a shelf in a library and begins to read, only to find that the book describes everything that he does--including entering the library, pulling the book off the shelf, reading the book, etc....  For some reason, I think the guy's name in the story was Hobart.  Rather than sorting through the 193,000 hits returned by Google, could any of you point me to the (preferably original) reference for the story? 

Article by David Hodgson

You all might be interested to read this recent article by David Hodgson called "Partly Free", which appeared in the July 5th issue of the Times Literary Supplement.  David welcomes any comments you my have.

(You can find the original, unedited version of the paper on David's website here.)

New book by Smilansky

Saul Smilansky has a new book out: 10 Moral Paradoxes. I can confirm that it is, not surprisingly, a fun and very worthwhile read. He doesn't directly engage with free will issues in this book, but there are chapters on punishment, moral worth, and moral badness. Good stuff- check it out!

New Teaching Philosophy Blog

Michael Cholbi has started a new blog on teaching philosophy entitled In Socrates' Wake.  Given Michael's own work, as well as his contributions to the newly greenified PEA Soup, I think that this will be a great blog once it gets going.  And perhaps Gardeners can help get it going.