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Existential Comics
The Auto-Icon
A comic by Corey Mohler about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world.
Jeremy Bentham, a 19th century British philosopher often called the father of Utilitarianism, believed that the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people is the only possible good. His will really did dictate that he be preserved as an ‘auto-icon’, with his original skeleton inside (he wanted his original head on top too, but they messed up the mummification process, so they had to use a wax head). Whether he thought this would bring about the most happiness for the most people in the future is up for debate, as it mostly just seems really creepy.
Philippa Foot is a 20th century philosopher best known for reviving virtue ethics, and especially for her famous ‘trolley problem’, which critiqued utilitarianism. Killing an innocent person and using their organs to save five lives is an alternate version of the Trolley Problem by Judith Jarvis Thomson.
© Corey Mohler 2016
Each week, Corey Mohler draws a new Existential Comics strip and posts it at existentialcomics.com.