Hit by the Virtual Trolley: When is Experimental Ethics Unethical?
Identificadores
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10481/73361Metadatos
Afficher la notice complèteAuteur
Rueda Etxebarria, JonMateria
Experimental Ethics Research Ethics Trolley Problem Virtual Reality
Date
2022-03-11Referencia bibliográfica
Rueda, J. (2022). Hit by the virtual trolley: When is experimental ethics unethical? Teorema, 41(1), 7-27.
Patrocinador
INPhINIT Retaining Fellowship of the La Caixa Foundation (grant number LCF/BQ/DR20/11790005); INEDyTO II (grant code PID2020-118729RB-I00) Spanish Research Agency; EthAI+3 (grant code PID2019104943RB-I00) Spanish Research AgencyRésumé
The trolley problem is one of the liveliest research frameworks in experimental ethics. In the last decade, social neuroscience and experimental moral psychology have gone beyond the studies with mere text-based hypothetical moral dilemmas. In this article, I present the rationale behind testing the actual behaviour in more realistic scenarios through Virtual Reality and summarize the body of evidence raised by the experiments with virtual trolley scenarios. Then, I approach the argument of Ramirez and LaBarge (2020), who claim that the virtual simulation of the Footbridge version of the trolley dilemma is an unethical research practice, and I raise some objections to it. Finally, I provide some reflections about the means and ends of trolley-like scenarios and other sacrificial dilemmas in experimental ethics.