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.
15 of 219 works
1706LockeLocke,A New Method of Making Common-Place-BooksEnglishManualFull text
- Q23Does relying on written records weaken the ability to remember?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q23Does relying on written records weaken the ability to remember?
1726SwiftSwift,Gulliver's TravelsEnglishFictionFull text
- Q15Should extending human life indefinitely be a goal of technical progress?
No. Gulliver's wish for endless life collapses when he meets the Struldbruggs, immortals who keep ageing and become wretched.
- Q15Should extending human life indefinitely be a goal of technical progress?
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?
1741WattsWatts,The Improvement of the MindEnglishManualFull text
- Q23Does relying on written records weaken the ability to remember?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q23Does relying on written records weaken the ability to remember?
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?
1759JohnsonJohnson,The Idler, No. 74EnglishPeriodicalFull text
- Q23Does relying on written records weaken the ability to remember?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q23Does relying on written records weaken the ability to remember?
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?
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?
1791FranklinFranklin,AutobiographyEnglishOtherFull text
- Q22Does organizing daily life by fixed schedules strengthen or weaken self-government?
Strengthens. To reach moral perfection he adopted the virtue of Order and a written scheme assigning each hour of the day, which he credits with his improvement.
- Q22Does organizing daily life by fixed schedules strengthen or weaken self-government?
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?
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?