The quantity of mercy is not strain’d?
[by Charles Cameron — some remedial philosophy at age 71 ]
.
I seem to be doing remedial political philosophy this week. As it happens, I read a Chinese comedian in my youth and was admonished against “sitting down while running round in circles” and have been aerating my brain with too much conscious breathing ever since — neither leaving me much time or interest for what in Oxford in my day was known, somewhat dismissively, PPE — Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Which brings me today, and to grabbing lectures in just that sort of thing from Harvard’s Michael Sandel, courtesy of YouTube:
The video shows Sandel’s lectures, “Justice: Putting a Price Tag on Life”, and “How to Measure Pleasure” — salted with some dark humor:
Back in ancient Rome, they threw Christians to the lions in the Coliseum for sport. If you think how the utilitarian calculus would go, yes, the Christian thrown to the lion suffers enormous, excruciating pain, but look at the collective ecstasy of the Romans. .. you have to admit that if there were enough Romans delirious with happiness, it would outweigh even the most excruciating pain of a handful of Christians thrown to the lion.
I enjoyed the two lectures immensely — maybe I should rewind fifty years, and try PPE at Harcard?.
**
All of which caused me to wonder:
Sources:
Mark Dowie, Pinto Madness W Michael Hoffman, Case Study: The Ford Pinto
See also:
ES Grush and CS Saunby, Fatalities Associated with Crash-Induced Fuel Leakage and Fires
**
I mean, all of which made me wonder about Jeremy Bentham, I suppose.
We had Locke at Christ Church, staring disdainfully from his portrait during dinners in the Great Hall — but Bentham? I don’t think I saw any utility in utilitarianism.
**
But then I also wondered:
I wondered: how close is the analogy between the trolly problem and the ticking bomb torture questionn? Do we start from numbers of likely victims in each case and decide from there, or should we instead start by contemplating torture — and recognize the abyss staring back at us?
Sources:
Wikipedia, Trolly problem Michael Sandel, Justice: Putting a Price Tag on Life & How to Measure Pleasure
See also:
Kyle York, Lesser-Known Trolley Problem Variations
**
What Shakespeare said, though — getting back to my title — was “The quality of mercy is not strain’d” — not the quantity, the quality — unquantifiable.
August 12th, 2015 at 12:39 pm
I have always hated that trolley problem and would refuse to participate in any study that used it or something like it.
August 12th, 2015 at 4:08 pm
Unfortunately for those Pinto owners, Arjay Miller was kicked upstairs to the Board of Directors, and Iaccoca took over and made the Pinto.
.
The Pinto litigation and recalls didn’t occur until the end of the decade, and in 1974 the NHTSA actually ruled that it was safe.
The energy crisis era Mustang II was built on the same platform as the Pinto and came out in 1974. Despite Ford’s design being ruled legally valid at the time, they put in some reinforcement to the Mustang’s rear bumper keeping off the fuel tank in case of collision.
Perhaps they saw the writing on the wall and decided to do the qualitative right thing.
Or perhaps they crunched the numbers, decided potential legal fees could push the calculus in a different direction, and made a quantitative decision.
.
I think what happened is Iaccoca became president and, in the chaotic transition, the Pinto emerged from a “design-by-committee” process
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_by_committee
This is the kind of environment where Utilitarianism always seems to gain currency.
.
On the other hand, Iaccoca became a rising star at Ford as the father of the Mustang. He was in charge of the program in the early 60s and was its champion. If he had never had the Chrysler resurrection he would still be a legend for introducing pony cars to the world. That Mother Jones article calls it “Lee’s car.”
There was much less likelihood that his cherished baby would be tainted because it always had tighter oversight. Although the Mustang did have its share of mechanical problems, it would be shepherded away from becoming a death trap like the Pinto.
.
I guess the key is to have somebody directly over the Quants with either his neck or his baby’s neck on the line at the other end of all the numbers.
August 12th, 2015 at 6:38 pm
And now…