A belief that is never asserted.

The orgy story.

Or, more accurately: philosophers turn their awareness to issues that affect everyone.

A parakeet, a porn star, a perverted math professor, a selfish dude, S, and an unsuspecting woman, M.

What can this unusual grouping of characters teach us about sexual ethics?

The orgy story demonstrates something beyond logical consequences of hypothetical situations.

The “moral” to the story, if there is one, is that silence is dangerous; it causes dysfunction in relationship, and it is a form of dishonesty. And dishonesty can have serious consequences, especially when guessing about the beliefs of others.

Philosophers like to use thought experiments to test people’s intuitions to various contrived scenarios.

If the majority of people share one intuition strongly over another, then philosophers can use that as evidence to develop an ethical theory.

The scenarios allow us to consider our thoughts in a bubble, in a space that has been pre-defined by philosophers conducting thought experiments.

There is nothing inherently dubious about this method, but it is important to realize that it is a form of storytelling.