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Would You Kill the Fat Man?
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
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Publisher's summary
A train is racing toward five men, tied to the track. Unless the train is stopped, it will inevitably kill all five men.
If a fat man is pushed onto the line, although he will die, his body will stop the train, saving five lives. Would you kill the fat man?
As David Edmonds shows, answering the question is far more complex, and important, than it first appears. In fact, how we answer it tells us a great deal about right and wrong.
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Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Third Edition
- Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
- By: Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson
- Narrated by: Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Renowned social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson take a compelling look into how the brain is wired for self-justification. When we make mistakes, we must calm the cognitive dissonance that jars our feelings of self-worth. And so we create fictions that absolve us of responsibility, restoring our belief that we are smart, moral, and right - a belief that often keeps us on a course that is dumb, immoral, and wrong. Backed by years of research and delivered in energetic prose, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) offers a fascinating explanation of self-deception.
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If you're a liberal hater - this book's for you
- By MRN on 11-13-20
By: Carol Tavris, and others
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You Are Now Less Dumb
- How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself
- By: David McRaney
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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You Are Now Less Dumb is grounded in the idea that we all believe ourselves to be objective observers of reality - except we’re not. But that's okay, because our delusions keep us sane. Expanding on this premise, McRaney provides eye-opening analyses of 15 more ways we fool ourselves every day. This smart and highly entertaining audiobook will be wowing listeners for years to come.
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Not a lot of guidance
- By A. Yoshida on 02-08-14
By: David McRaney
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The Metaphysical Club
- By: Louis Menand
- Narrated by: Henry Leyva
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Abridged
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Hardly a club in the conventional sense, the organization referred to in the title of this superb literary hybrid (part history, part biography, part philosophy) consisted of four members and probably existed for less than nine months.
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The Great American Experiment
- By Victoria on 12-08-03
By: Louis Menand
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Blindspot
- By: Mahzarin R. Banaji, Anthony G. Greenwald
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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I know my own mind. I am able to assess others in a fair and accurate way. These self-perceptions are challenged by leading psychologists Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald as they explore the hidden biases we all carry from a lifetime of exposure to cultural attitudes about age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexuality, disability status, and nationality. Blindspot is the authors’ metaphor for the portion of the mind that houses hidden biases.
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Difficult to interpret.
- By Ryan Arnold on 12-21-15
By: Mahzarin R. Banaji, and others
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Breaking the Spell
- Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why - and how - it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma.
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Great Reader Actually Enhances A Great Book!
- By Don Caliente on 07-14-14
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Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life
- A Psychologist Investigates How Evolution, Cognition, and Complexity Are Revolutionizing Our View of Human Nature
- By: Douglas T. Kenrick
- Narrated by: Fred Stella
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Between what can be learned from evolutionary psychology and cognitive science a picture emerges. In Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life, social psychologist Douglas Kenrick fuses these two fields to create a coherent story of human nature. In his analysis, many ingrained, apparently irrational behaviors—one-night stands, prejudice, conspicuous consumption, even art and religious devotion—are quite explicable and (when desired) avoidable.
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Rather dated and self-aggrandizing
- By Laurie Frick on 07-21-11
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Suspicious Minds
- How Culture Shapes Madness
- By: Joel Gold, Ian Gold
- Narrated by: Joel Gold, Ian Gold
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Mr. A. was admitted to Dr. Joel Gold’s inpatient unit at Bellevue Hospital in 2002. He was, he said, being filmed constantly, and his life was being broadcast around the world "like The Truman Show" - the 1998 film depicting a man who is unknowingly living out his life as the star of a popular soap opera. Over the next few years, Gold saw a number of patients suffering from what he and his brother, Dr. Ian Gold, began calling the "Truman Show Delusion," launching them on a quest to understand the nature of this particular phenomenon and the nature of madness itself.
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Intriguing
- By L. K. on 04-18-16
By: Joel Gold, and others
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Down Girl
- The Logic of Misogyny
- By: Kate Manne
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Misogyny is a hot topic, yet it's often misunderstood. What is misogyny, exactly? Who deserves to be called a misogynist? How does misogyny contrast with sexism, and why is it prone to persist - or increase - even when sexist gender roles are waning? This book is an exploration of misogyny in public life and politics by the moral philosopher Kate Manne. It argues that misogyny should not be understood primarily in terms of the hatred or hostility some men feel toward all or most women. Rather, it's primarily about controlling, policing, punishing, and exiling the "bad" women.
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Five Star Book w/bad Narration
- By Cherrybomb on 02-08-19
By: Kate Manne
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The Moral Animal
- Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology
- By: Robert Wright
- Narrated by: Greg Thornton
- Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Are men literally born to cheat? Does monogamy actually serve women's interests? These are among the questions that have made The Moral Animal one of the most provocative science books in recent years. Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics - as well as their implications for our moral codes and public policies.
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Ridiculously Insightful
- By Liron on 10-25-10
By: Robert Wright
What listeners say about Would You Kill the Fat Man?
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Cameron Preston Kruger
- 11-19-20
Entertaining Philosophy
Crisp writing and an excellent reading performance make this Audible book a delight to listen to.
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- smarmer
- 09-10-14
Excellent intro to Meta-ethics and philosophy
Any additional comments?
I teach a course on ethics to third year medical students. I majored in philosophy as an undergrad before becoming a physician. I try to get them to search for the basic principles on which they base their decisions, especially with regard to such controversial topics as physician assisted suicide, abortion, complex triage choices, and allocation of medical resources. I have used the "Trolley Case" for many years to force them to think at a deeper level.
This book is a splendid introduction to the "Trolley Case" and to the whole question of duty ethics versus utilitarian ethics, with fascinating excursions into the concepts of virtue, the role of neuroscience, and whether morality is learned or innate.
The narrator has just the right amount of whimsey in his voice to capture the humor of the author. Highly recommended to anyone interested in this important topic.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Douglas
- 01-25-14
Wonderfully Rendered Book...
on the complexity of moral decisions and how rationality--and to a surprising degree--emotion play roles in our everyday ethics. I teach a class based in Theories Of Morality, and my classes discuss such questions on a daily basis, including the one that gives this book its title. Since Kohlberg and Gilligan began their search for a testable rubric for morality (both included gender as a factor in moral decisions), ethics scientists have struggled to define what a "moral act" is and how exactly we arrive at the decisions we make when ethics are at stake. Edmonds does a fine job here of furthering the debate and clarifying many of its ongoing issues. This book would go very well with John Haidt's The Happiness Hypothesis (the title has a lot to do with ethics and how we decide, so the title is a bit misleading) & his second book The Righteous Mind--I highly recommend both be take with Would You Kill The Fat Man.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Julie Stanley
- 04-23-14
Stick with it.
What did you love best about Would You Kill the Fat Man??
I liked exploring the idea of morality and how varied that can be, even within one culture. Though, I don't feel the book came to any concrete conclusions, nor should it. Morality is both social and personally dictated and hard to predict.
Would you recommend Would You Kill the Fat Man? to your friends? Why or why not?
While I enjoyed Would You Kill The Fat Man, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to others unless, I knew they had a tolerance and understanding of academia. There were times when I felt all the theories were getting just too ridiculous and too convoluted and almost felt like turning it off. But, I stuck with it and, it does end up pulling together a lot of the various aspects and theories.
What about Gareth Armstrong’s performance did you like?
Gareth's performance was expressive and interesting, highlighting the humour.
Any additional comments?
About half to, three quaters through, it was all starting to seem very nonsensical. Like wading through a quagmire. However, if you stick with it, it does get better again.
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4 people found this helpful