Saving the Few

The untold story of one of the most controversial ideas in modern philosophy—and the mysterious thinker behind itIf you were forced to choose between saving the life of one person or the lives of many people, what should you do? To most people, the answer is obvious: you must save more people. This assumption underlies effective altruism and utilitarianism. But what if, in fact, it’s morally acceptable to save or help the few? In Saving the Few, Tyler Doggett tells the story of this controversial idea and the mysterious philosopher, John Taurek (1936–2003), who presented it in a 1977 paper, only to never publish again, to never receive tenure, and to disappear from the field, becoming a philosophical one-hit wonder about whom the question has always been, Whatever happened to John Taurek?The first book-length account of Taurek and his big idea, Saving the Few is about why he is right and why his paper “Should the Numbers Count?” still inspires passionate debate. But it’s also about what his life and professional fate tell us about his ideas and the discipline of philosophy. The book shows why Taurek’s counterintuitive arguments, which can sound ludicrous or even offensive, have profound implications for important moral, ethical, and political questions, including how to distribute scarce vital resources; whether we are allowed to favor ourselves, our families, and our friends over needier others; and whether majority rule is valid. Moving beyond Taurek’s fascinating ideas, Saving the Few asks how someone could write something so brilliant and important and yet end up alienated from philosophy.