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Judith Jarvis Thomson
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Scratchpad: Black-and-white formal portrait of philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson smiling, wearing a tailored jacket with a brooch and a bow-tied blouse before a curtain. Alt text: Black-and-white portrait of philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson smiling in a tailored jacket, brooch, and bow-tied blouse. The trolley problem
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Scratchpad: Black-and-white formal portrait of philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson smiling, wearing a tailored jacket with a brooch and a bow-tied blouse before a curtain. Alt text: Black-and-white portrait of philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson smiling in a tailored jacket, brooch, and bow-tied blouse.
Judith Jarvis Thomson The American professor of philosophy Judith Jarvis Thomson, early in her tenure at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Judith Jarvis Thomson

American philosopher
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Brian Duignan
Brian Duignan is a senior editor at EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica. His subject areas include philosophy, law, social science, politics, political theory, and religion.
Brian Duignan
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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‱History

Judith Jarvis Thomson (born October 4, 1929, Manhattan, New York, U.S.—died November 20, 2020, Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an American philosopher specializing in ethics and metaphysics and known for her exploration of the doctrine of double effect—the idea that a human action with negative means or ends may be morally permissible or impermissible depending on whether the negative factors are not directly but only “obliquely,” or indirectly, intended (i.e., foreseen or understood as necessary but not...

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