1st Edition

Ethical Theory 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments

By Daniel Muñoz, Sarah Stroud Copyright 2025
256 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

256 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

256 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

In this new kind of introduction to ethical theory, Daniel Muñoz and Sarah Stroud present 50 of the field’s most exciting puzzles, paradoxes, and thought experiments. Over the course of 11 chapters, the authors cover a huge variety of topics, starting with the classic debate between utilitarians and deontologists and ending on existential questions about the future of humanity. Every chapter... Read more

Introduction

1. Utility and Consequences

1. George and the Bioweapons

2. The Utility Monster

3. Parfit’s Harmless Torturers

4. Infinite Utility

5. World Cup Accident

2. Killing, Letting Die, and Trolley Problems

6. The Trolley Problem, Part I: Bystander at the Switch

7. The Trolley Problem, Part II: Footbridge

8. Drowning and Letting Drown

9. The Tactical Bomber and the Terror Bomber

10. The Trolley Problem, Part III: The Meta-Trolley Problem

3. Puzzles about Rights

11. The Paradox of Deontology

12. Nowheresville

13. Thomson’s Violinist

14. Feinberg’s Cabin

15. The Paradox of Self-Release

4. Partiality

16. Singer’s Pond

17. David and the Scarce Drug (The Numbers Problem)

18. The Third Man

19. The Archbishop and the Valet

20. One Thought Too Many

5. Moral Dilemmas

21. Kant’s Murderer at the Door

22. Jim and the Villagers

23. Sophie’s Choice

24. The Gentle Murder Paradox 

6. Supererogation

25. The Paradox of Supererogation

26. The All or Nothing Problem

27. Kamm’s Intransitivity Paradox

28. What’s Wrong with Exploitation?

7. Well-Being and Value

29. The Experience Machine

30. Should We Wish for Immortality?

31. Should We Fear Death?

32. Moore’s Beautiful World

33. Sweetening

8. Moral Psychology and Motivation

34. The Ring of Gyges

35. Moral Worth

36. Augustine’s Pears

37. The Deferential Wife

9. Moral Responsibility

38. Frankfurt Cases

39. Wolf’s JoJo

40. The Paradox of Forgiveness

41. Moral Luck (The Lorry Driver)

10. Belief and Ignorance

42. Wronging by Believing?

43. The Miners Puzzle

44. Moral Uncertainty

45. Cluelessness

11. Future Generations

46. Ex Machina and the Future of AI

47. Children of Men

48. The Procreation Asymmetry

49. The Non-Identity Problem

50. The Repugnant Conclusion.

Index

Biography

Daniel Muñoz is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Core Faculty in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. He received his PhD from MIT in 2019, and is writing a book about the foundations of deontology entitled What We Owe to Ourselves.

Sarah Stroud is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Parr Center for Ethics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. She has published widely in ethical theory, moral psychology, and metaethics and was a co-editor (with Hugh LaFollette, Editor-in-Chief, and John Deigh) of The International Encyclopedia of Ethics (9 volumes; 2013).