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French

Neurosciences et éthique: que nous apprend le dilemme du wagon fou?

Contributors

Baertschi, Bernard

Published in

Igitur, vol. 3, no. 3, p. 1-17

Publication date

2011

Abstract

Contemporary normative ethics is characterized by a debate between two conflic- ting theories, deontologism and utilitarianism. Until recently, this debate has essentially used arguments, objections and thought-experiments of a conceptual nature. Following the progress in neuroimagery, Joshua Greene has introduced empirical elements in the discussion : submitting several subjects to different dilemmas, in particular the trolley problem, he has examined how their brain were reacting. He concluded that deontolo- gists were drawing on their emotions, whereas utilitarians reacted more rationally, and therefore gave a better answer from a moral point of view. Deontologists reasons are even rationalizations and confabulations, rather than authentic moral reasons. Unfortu- nately, if Greene is on the right track in introducing empirical data in this debate, his conclusions are not warranted in my opinion.

Keywords

  • Déontologisme, Utilitarisme, Neuroéthique, Dilemme du wagon fou, Principe des actions à double effet

UNIGE affiliation entities

UNIGE research groups

Citation (ISO format)

BAERTSCHI, Bernard. Neurosciences et éthique: que nous apprend le dilemme du wagon fou? In: Igitur, 2011, vol. 3, n° 3, p. 1–17.

Main files (1)

Article (Published version)

Identifiers

  • PID : unige:25928

Journal ISSN

2105-0996
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749downloads

Technical informations

Creation

13/11/2012 15:18:00

First validation

13/11/2012 15:18:00

Update

14/03/2023 19:59:56

Status update

14/03/2023 19:59:56

Last indexation

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