The Side-Effect Effect
You're about to read a short scenario about a business decision and answer a single question about it — then a few questions about your answer. There are no right or wrong answers; just say what you think, and be ready to say why. At the end you'll have the option to send your instructor a transcript.
The first part of this is based on Joshua Knobe (2003), "Intentional Action and Side Effects in Ordinary Language," Analysis 63: 190–194. The second part is based on the experimental literature that followed from it.
An experimental version of this way of investigating thought experiments is developed in Nat Hansen, Kathryn B. Francis, and Hamish Greening, "Socratic Questionnaires," in Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy, Volume 5, ed. Joshua Knobe and Shaun Nichols (Oxford University Press, 2024), 331–374, doi.org/10.1093/9780198918905.003.0014.