Judith Jarvis Thomson

Judith Jarvis Thomson was an American philosopher known for her contributions to metaphysics and ethics. Her influential essay A Defense of Abortion introduced thought experiments such as the violinist analogy, and her work on the trolley problem helped establish it as a central case study in moral philosophy.

Thomson's philosophical method exemplified analytic ethics at its most careful: precise distinctions, controlled thought experiments, and attention to the complexity of moral intuitions. Her essays on rights, self-defence, and the ethics of action remain essential reading in applied ethics and normative theory.