trolleyology

English

Etymology

trolley +‎ -ology

Pronunciation

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Noun

trolleyology (uncountable)

1. (slang, humorous) An area of philosophy dealing with the kind of moral dilemma typified by the trolley problem of whether to sacrifice one person to save others.
   • 2008 January 15, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Experiments in Ethics:

     Trolleyology . . . by now the philosophical commentary on these cases makes the Talmud look like Cliffs Notes, and is surely massive enough to stop any runaway trolley in its tracks.

   • 2008 February 3, Paul Bloom, “Morality Studies”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     It used to be that the only people who had even heard of such dilemmas were professional philosophers, but now it seems as if everyone is doing trolleyology.

   • 2010, Angela A. Stanton, Mellani Day, Isabell Welpe, Neuroeconomics and the firm, page 249:

     Patients with damage to this area are overwhelmingly utilitarian in their moral judgments in the case studies presented to them – trolleyology and many others.

Derived terms

• trolleyological
• trolleyologist