Ethics [Thursday, September 20]

[sith_happened]

"Today we talk about something called the Golden Rule, a concept which unites many separate religions on this planet," Anakin began as he leaned against his desk and stared around the classroom. "It sounds altruistic: 'do unto others as you would have done unto you', but there's a couple of logical flaws in it. What if you don't mind getting poked in the stomach? Does it follow that you could wander around aimlessly poking people? What if you don't see what's wrong with stealing? Or killing? Or hating entire groups of people on principle? If the practical application is supposed to be you randomly help people because they could be good, wouldn't the opposite be that you could randomly harm people because they might be evil?"

He shrugged. "I suppose the Golden Rule could be broken down to 'be nice to people, and they'll be nice to you' but out here in the real world, we all know it doesn't exactly work like that, and the concept could also be reinterpreted as 'it doesn't bother me, so why does it bother you?' Is this a case of aiming for an ideal and hoping that it will cause a ripple effect of positive things, or something overly simplistic that taken to its logical extreme renders itself useless? Has seeing it on everything from coffee mugs to tea towels made the very idea of it trite, or does it still have a place in the mind of someone trying to lead an ethical life?"

Comments

Sign in [September 20]

[sith_happened]

...

Re: Sign in [September 20]

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John Sheppard

Re: Sign in [September 20]

[intraspective]

Ino Yamanaka

Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[sith_happened]

Doze off and Anakin will catch you.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[intraspective]

Ino wasn't asleep, though her eyes had kinda glazed over when the teacher started going on about reinterpreting the saying. This was so boring.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[sith_happened]

Anakin walked past Ino's desk and banged--hard--on the surface, then glared.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[key-of-heart.livejournal.com]

Sora wasn't napping, but he did look slightly baffled as he tried to wrap his brain around the point that he seemed to be making.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

Kabuto took notes, but wasn't paying much attention.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[solo_sword]

Jaina was definitely paying attention. She was really starting to wonder if it should worry her that sometimes he made a lot of sense.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[honoraryphd.livejournal.com]

Victor paid attention as usual even if the very suggestion of being nice to others just to make them be nice to him nearly made him smile.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

River listened, but her mind kept wandering, thinking about today's topic.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John paid as much attention as he could and worked hard to avoid staring at a certain Jedi.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

Gavin wasn't anywhere near dozing off, not in this class.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/20]

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

So, was Sifu Skywalker a practical, realistic, intelligent, somewhat cynical kind of guy (like Sokka), or a heartless bastard? It was too soon to tell.

Sokka took detailed notes.

Discussion question [9/20]

[sith_happened]

So...Golden Rule: good idea or useless tripe? Pair up with another student and talk about it.

Or talk about no-fun glass-half-empty guy at the front of the classroom.

Re: Discussion question [9/20]

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"The concept makes sense, but it's ultimately worthless," Kabuto said, not looking up from his notebook. "You can go around being nice to everyone and believing they'll do the same in return, but not everyone is a naïve fool. Sooner or later, someone is going to burst your happy little bubble."

Re: Discussion question [9/20]

[key-of-heart.livejournal.com]

"Well, it's a good idea. There's nothing wrong with a good idea... right?" He still seemed to be thinking it over. What was it about this class that made him question everything?

Re: Discussion question [9/20]

[solo_sword]

"It's a good concept in theory, but it doesn't happen a lot in real life," Jaina said. "Still doesn't mean you shouldn't try to live by it, though."

Re: Discussion question [9/20]

[honoraryphd.livejournal.com]

"Useless. It's emotional bribery at best, guilt-based extortion at worst. If you want to manipulate someone's feelings to get what you want from them, there are better ways of doing it," Victor said.

It's not that he missed the point. He just felt that the point was trite and better analyzed from this perspective.

Re: Discussion question [9/20]

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

"The assumption is that all people have the same wants and needs. True to some extent, but does not take differences into account." She couldn't help thinking about conversations with Adah, where the subject of help was always dangerous ground, even when expressed in terms of the lack of need for it.

Re: Discussion question [9/20]

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Is this like in sports, how you shake your oppenent's hand before a game?" John asked, trying to start a discussion with anyone.

Not that most people in Fandom knew Earth sports or customs, but John always forgot that part.

Talk to the TA!

[sith_happened]

Qui-Gon's around. Wait for him to ping in first, though.

Re: Talk to the TA!

[jedi-qui.livejournal.com]

Qui-Gon was quietly taking notes and listening to the conversations around him.

Talk to Anakin!

[sith_happened]

He's around too.

OOC

[sith_happened]

I'm in class most of the day, so talk among yourselves. I'll ping in when I can.