219 works selected for the 40 candidate questions. Selections approved by Ben Breen, 29 September 2026. Arguments are unverified. Quotations were chosen by machine and are unchecked.
22 of 219 works
1739HumeHume,A Treatise of Human NatureEnglishTreatiseFull text
- Q16Would replacing bodily organs with artificial substitutes preserve the identity of the person?
No. Argues that we ascribe identity to a ship or body whose parts are gradually replaced only because the change is gradual, and that this identity is a fiction of the imagination.
- Q16Would replacing bodily organs with artificial substitutes preserve the identity of the person?
1747La MettrieLa Mettrie,Man a MachineFrenchTreatiseFull text
Julien Offray de La Mettrie
L'Homme machine
French · Treatise
Full text · Period translation
Open source →- Q02Would a machine's ability to converse appropriately be sufficient evidence that it thinks?
Yes. Proposes that an ape could be taught language by Amman's method for the deaf, after which it would be a little gentleman; speech is a trained bodily capacity, not proof of an immaterial soul.
- Q05Can human choices be fully explained by physical causes?
Yes. The soul's faculties vary with the state of the brain, body, food and illness, so the whole person is a self-winding machine whose states follow from its organization.
- Q02Would a machine's ability to converse appropriately be sufficient evidence that it thinks?
1748HumeHume,An Enquiry concerning Human UnderstandingEnglishTreatiseFull text
- Q04Does conscious intention help cause bodily action?
Undecided. We feel the arm move when we will it, but the power by which will produces motion is unknown and inconceivable; we observe only constant conjunction.
- Q06Can people be morally responsible for actions that follow necessarily from their bodily constitution and circumstances?
Yes. Actions are caused by character and motives like any natural event, and this necessity is what makes praise and blame possible; an uncaused act would reflect nothing about the person.
- Q04Does conscious intention help cause bodily action?
1748MontesquieuMontesquieu,The Spirit of the LawsFrenchTreatiseFull text
- Q11Should a judge follow a general rule when it produces an unjust result in a particular case?
Yes. Says judges should be only the mouth that pronounces the words of the law, inanimate beings who cannot moderate its force or severity.
- Q11Should a judge follow a general rule when it produces an unjust result in a particular case?
1755RousseauRousseau,Discourse on the Origin of InequalityFrenchTreatiseFull text
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes
French · Treatise
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q38When a person accomplishes something through a machine, should the machine's power count as that person's capability?
No. The savage's body is his only instrument and is stronger for it; had he an axe, a sling or a horse he would lose the strength and speed he now has.
- Q38When a person accomplishes something through a machine, should the machine's power count as that person's capability?
1759WolffWolff,Theory of GenerationLatinTreatiseFull text
Caspar Friedrich Wolff
Theoria generationis
Latin · Treatise
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q09Can the development of an organism from an egg be explained as the operation of a machine?
No. Argues against preformation that the embryo forms by epigenesis from unorganized matter, and attributes the forming to an essential force (vis essentialis) rather than to a pre-built mechanism.
- Q09Can the development of an organism from an egg be explained as the operation of a machine?
1762RousseauRousseau,EmileFrenchTreatiseFull text
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Émile, ou De l'éducation
French · Treatise
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q20Does making an action habitual increase a person's freedom to act?
No. The only habit a child should form is to have no habits, so that he keeps control of his liberty and strength.
- Q22Does organizing daily life by fixed schedules strengthen or weaken self-government?
Weakens. A child should not want to eat, sleep or do anything at fixed hours, so he keeps control of his own liberty.
- Q24Does using calculating devices weaken the ability to calculate without them?
Yes. The more ingenious our apparatus, the coarser our senses; instruments like the theodolite let us neglect judging angles and distances ourselves.
- Q20Does making an action habitual increase a person's freedom to act?
1764BeccariaBeccaria,On Crimes and PunishmentsItalianTreatiseFull text
Cesare Beccaria
Dei delitti e delle pene
Italian · Treatise
Full text · Period translation
Open source →- Q11Should a judge follow a general rule when it produces an unjust result in a particular case?
Yes. Holds that criminal judges must not interpret the law or consult its 'spirit', but apply it by a single syllogism, since interpretation opens the door to arbitrary judgment.
- Q11Should a judge follow a general rule when it produces an unjust result in a particular case?
1764VoltaireVoltaire,Philosophical Dictionary, 'Animals'FrenchTreatiseFull text
- Q28Would the capacity to suffer give an artificial being a claim to humane treatment?
Yes. Attacks the Cartesian view of animals as machines: a dog dissected alive has all the organs of feeling, and nature did not give it nerves in order that it should not feel.
- Q28Would the capacity to suffer give an artificial being a claim to humane treatment?
1765BlackstoneBlackstone,Commentaries on the Laws of EnglandEnglishTreatiseFull text
- Q11Should a judge follow a general rule when it produces an unjust result in a particular case?
Yes. Allows equity to correct law's generality but holds that law without equity, though hard, is better than equity without law, which would make every judge a legislator.
- Q11Should a judge follow a general rule when it produces an unjust result in a particular case?
1770ThiryThiry,The System of NatureFrenchTreatiseFull text
Paul-Henri Thiry, baron d'Holbach
Système de la nature
French · Treatise
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q05Can human choices be fully explained by physical causes?
Yes. Man is part of nature and every act of will is determined by motives that act on the brain, so free agency is an illusion.
- Q05Can human choices be fully explained by physical causes?
1776SmithSmith,An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsEnglishTreatiseFull text
- Q18Does operating machinery develop or diminish a worker's skill and judgment?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q18Does operating machinery develop or diminish a worker's skill and judgment?
1785ReidReid,Essays on the Intellectual Powers of ManEnglishTreatiseFull text
- Q16Would replacing bodily organs with artificial substitutes preserve the identity of the person?
Yes. Reid argues that amputation does not divide the person: the enduring self is indivisible even though its thoughts, actions and feelings change.
- Q16Would replacing bodily organs with artificial substitutes preserve the identity of the person?
1788ReidReid,Essays on the Active Powers of ManEnglishTreatiseFull text
- Q06Can people be morally responsible for actions that follow necessarily from their bodily constitution and circumstances?
No. Moral accountability requires a real power to will or not will an action; if every act were necessitated, no one would be responsible.
- Q06Can people be morally responsible for actions that follow necessarily from their bodily constitution and circumstances?
1789BenthamBentham,An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and LegislationEnglishTreatiseFull text
- Q28Would the capacity to suffer give an artificial being a claim to humane treatment?
Yes. Argues that what matters for moral standing is not whether a being can reason or talk but whether it can suffer.
- Q28Would the capacity to suffer give an artificial being a claim to humane treatment?
1789BlumenbachBlumenbach,An Essay on GenerationGermanTreatiseFull text
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
Über den Bildungstrieb
German · Treatise
Full text · Period translation
Open source →- Q09Can the development of an organism from an egg be explained as the operation of a machine?
No. Blumenbach denies pre-existing organized germs and defines formative nisus as a distinctive force of generation, growth, nutrition and reproduction.
- Q09Can the development of an organism from an egg be explained as the operation of a machine?
1790KantKant,Critique of JudgementGermanTreatiseFull text
Immanuel Kant
Kritik der Urteilskraft
German · Treatise
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q08Does an organism's ability to repair itself distinguish it fundamentally from a machine?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q09Can the development of an organism from an egg be explained as the operation of a machine?
No. Holds that an organized being is not a mere machine, because a machine has only motive power while an organism has a formative power that it passes to matter and that reproduces and repairs its own parts.
- Q08Does an organism's ability to repair itself distinguish it fundamentally from a machine?
1792WollstonecraftWollstonecraft,A Vindication of the Rights of WomanEnglishTreatiseFull text
- Q21Can repeated obedience train a person to obey without judgment?
Yes. Standing armies and women's education both train blind obedience; strengthening the mind would end it.
- Q21Can repeated obedience train a person to obey without judgment?
1793GodwinGodwin,Enquiry Concerning Political JusticeEnglishTreatiseFull text
- Q15Should extending human life indefinitely be a goal of technical progress?
Yes. Speculates that mind will gain power over matter and that human life may be greatly prolonged once society is rationally ordered.
- Q15Should extending human life indefinitely be a goal of technical progress?
1795CondorcetCondorcet,Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human MindFrenchTreatiseFull text
Condorcet
Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain
French · Treatise
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q15Should extending human life indefinitely be a goal of technical progress?
Yes. Asks whether the interval between birth and decay might have no assignable limit, and expects medicine and better living to lengthen life indefinitely.
- Q15Should extending human life indefinitely be a goal of technical progress?
1798KantKant,Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of ViewGermanTreatiseFull text
Immanuel Kant
Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht
German · Treatise
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q20Does making an action habitual increase a person's freedom to act?
No. Habit is a physical compulsion to go on as before; it takes the moral worth from good acts because it impairs freedom of mind, so as a rule all habit is objectionable.
- Q20Does making an action habitual increase a person's freedom to act?
1798MalthusMalthus,An Essay on the Principle of PopulationEnglishTreatiseFull text
- Q15Should extending human life indefinitely be a goal of technical progress?
No. Rejects Condorcet's indefinite prolongation of life, arguing that a partial improvement whose limit is unknown does not show that improvement is unlimited.
- Q15Should extending human life indefinitely be a goal of technical progress?