Glendon

I really like Glendon’s use of law to back up her argument in these chapters. Particularly, I thought her analysis of tort law and responsibility (especially when she was drawing from legal textbooks) to be particularly interesting. Also, one of her larger points—that we freely exert rights to structure our relationships with others in our communities without stopping to ponder (or to accept) responsibility to others—to be something that has broader and equally interesting applications in our everyday lives.

But, I digress. I’m wondering (and this might be quite a stretch) what Glendon would have to say about the trolley problem. In particular, she seems to assert that individuals do not usually care about others. So, I’m left with two questions. First, what would Glendon say that Boggs (as a typical American) would think about any potential duty he had to flip the switch? Second, what would Glendon say Boggs should think about any potential duty that he had to flip the switch? This might be outside the bounds of what we’re talking about, but I see some connection between the idea that Boggs is flipping the switch to help others (in other words, to help them by saving their lives) and Glendon’s arguments about Americans’ lack of felt responsibility toward others.