- See Brown for other articles with titles that contain, either by relationship or by coincidence, this character's surname.
Brown was a 23rd and 24th century Human man, a philosophy professor at Starfleet Academy.
Biography[]
One of his courses was well-remembered for a two-week segment in which he discussed the ethics of sacrificing a person if it could save a thousand lives. He considered the moral philosophy of such a choice, as well as its unintended consequences. As an example, he posited what would happen if Jonas Salk had been sacrificed, but the choice had been made before he developed the polio vaccine. Or sacrificing Zefram Cochrane prior to his invention of warp drive.
Brown was teaching this course by the late 2280s, when Tuvok began attending the Academy, and continued to teach it in the 2350s, when Kathryn Janeway attended. Tuvok thought Brown's examples sometimes weren't logical, though Janeway disagreed, believing that it was never right to sacrifice a life for that reason.
In the 2360s, Brown retired. His final semester of classes was attended by Cadet Tom Paris. (VOY novel: Echoes)
- Brown's course might have been "Ethics and Moral Principles", which was also attended by Data and Tasha Yar.
