PANTHEON
ExploreBuild My Library
© 2026 Pantheon — an atlas of the ideas that shaped how we think.
person1920–2010

Philippa Foot

Disciplines:
philosophy
ethics
oxford
ethics/virtue ethics

Summary

British philosopher at Oxford — who created the Trolley Problem as a philosophical thought experiment — revived virtue ethics against utilitarianism and Kantian deontology — and created the theory of natural goodness in Natural Goodness.

Core Contribution

Creates the Trolley Problem — Foot's 1967 thought experiment (would you pull a lever to divert a trolley from killing five to killing one?) has become the most discussed thought experiment in philosophy and psychology and forms the empirical basis for research on moral intuition.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Created the Trolley Problem in a footnote — the most discussed ethical thought experiment of the past 50 years appeared as a minor illustration in a paper about double effect doctrine rather than as a central argument; its subsequent career as a centerpiece of moral psychology was not predictable from its origin
  • Was the granddaughter of US President Grover Cleveland — her aristocratic Anglo-American background (with its comfortable security) may have enabled her long pursuit of Aristotelian virtue ethics when the philosophical mainstream dismissed it

Notable Works & Achievements

Virtues and Vices

Natural Goodness

The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect

Historical Influences

Elizabeth Anscombe Ludwig Wittgenstein G.E.M. Anscombe

Intellectual Lineage

Kirkleatham, YorkshireSomerville College OxfordOxford

Contemporaries & Peers

Elizabeth Anscombe Iris Murdoch Judith Jarvis Thomson

Minds Influenced

Moral philosophy Virtue ethics revival

Intellectual Posterity

Trolley problem Virtue ethics revival Natural Goodness

Discussing

Philippa Foot

Ask anything about Philippa Foot — their ideas, influences, contradictions, legacy.

Sign in to start a conversation.