The Reliability of Moral Intuitions and the Status of Thought Experiments in Ethics

Abstract

My thesis is concerned with the susceptibility of professional philosophers to cognitive biases and unreliable intuitions when encountering thought experiments in ethics arguments. I examine relevant intuition unreliability using empirical research largely concerning the trolley problem. Finally, I offer some normative propositions to ethicists to improve the implementation of at least one type of thought experiments in ethics.