Judith Jarvis Thomson

She is credited with naming, developing, and initiating the extensive literature on the trolley problem first posed by Philippa Foot which has found a wide range use since.[1] Thomson also published a paper titled "A Defense of Abortion", which makes the argument that the procedure is morally permissible even if it is assumed that a fetus is a person with a right to life.[4] Though she did not receive religious pressure from her parents, she officially converted to Judaism at age fourteen, when she was confirmed at Temple Israel in Manhattan.Judith taught for a year at Boston University and, in 1964, was appointed to the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she was Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy.Published in 1971, Thomson's work on abortion is historically connected to and located just prior to the court case of Roe v. Wade.The paper asks the reader to imagine that her circulatory system has, without her consent, been connected to that of a famous violinist whose life she must sustain for nine months.
Judith ThompsonCambridge, MassachusettsBarnard CollegeCambridge UniversityColumbia UniversityJames ThomsonContemporary philosophyWestern philosophySchoolAnalytic philosophyKathrin Koslickitrolley problemabortionethicsmetaphysicsPhilippa FootA Defense of AbortionHunter College High SchoolNewnham College, CambridgeOxfordBoston UniversityMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyUniversity of PittsburghUC Berkeley School of LawYale Law SchoolFulbright FoundationAmerican Association of University WomenNational Endowment for the HumanitiesGuggenheim FoundationAmerican Philosophical AssociationTanner Lectures on Human ValuesPrinceton Universityprofessor emeritaAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesUniversity of CambridgeHarvard UniversityBritish AcademyAmerican Philosophical Societymeta-ethicsnormative ethicsapplied ethicsRoe v. Wadeanti-abortionMount Auburn CemeteryPhilosophy & Public AffairsThe MonistCornell University PressHarvard University PressYale Law JournalMIT PressHarman, GilbertBlackwellPrinceton University PressAmerican philosophyViolinist (thought experiment)List of American philosophersGendler, Tamar S.Jewish Women's ArchiveMcGrath, SarahJacobinStoljar, DanielThe Dictionary of Modern American PhilosophersLe Temps