fandomhigh | Ethics [Tuesday, October 21, 2nd period]

Anakin leaned a little uncomfortably against his desk as he waited for the students to take their seats.

"Today we talk about diligence, temperance, and forgiveness," he said quietly, "and we're going to use examples from last week's exercise to do so."

He flipped the hologram to life, focusing on a shot of Palpatine's face. "The goal was to save this man, the democratically chosen leader of your galaxy, at the cost--if necessary--of your own lives. After the first dozen or so droids shooting at you, you certainly had the option of retreating and leaving the mission for someone else to complete. So when does diligence turn to foolhardiness?"

The holocam switched to footage of two Jedi, blue blades flashing, taking on an older man wielding a red lightsaber. The battle was moving at least three times as fast as the exercise had. The older Jedi went ricocheting into a wall, then the second one, fire in his eyes, closed in on their opponent. A few moments later the Sith dropped to his knees with two lightsabers held to his throat.

The Jedi wielding the lightsabers looked an awful lot like their teacher.

"Temperance," Anakin said softly. "Do you kill him now? He's dangerous. He held the head of a galaxy-wide government hostage. He injured your partner. He certainly tried to kill you first. Or do you capture him and leave him to the whims of the courts?"

He shook his head. "Finally, forgiveness. You save the chancellor, at great personal expense, only to discover he's not the kind of man you thought he was. Your act of heroism has managed to make the situation at home much, much worse. How do you forgive yourself for it? Can you forgive the others who put you into that position?"

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"How dangerous is he going to keep being if he's captured?" Ender asked, "There's no point to killing him if he's not making you." He had enough deaths to his name. But the immediate ones, the human ones, had been in the moment, and a battle like this could be ended in the courts. "There's no immediate threat left."

And maybe he could believe that he would, too. He'd been tried and tested about this before.

It left him with the feeling he was still lying through his teeth, strategically sound as his words had been.

Edited 2008-10-21 14:16 (UTC)

"He's almost singlehandedly responsible for beginning an intergalactic war," Anakin replied. "We don't have a guidepost for figuring how dangerous he'd be captured. We don't even know if he'd allow himself to remain captured. Does that change anything?"

"Whether or not he began a war isn't the point," Ender replied, still trying not to linger on his own memories too much. "What matters is: is there a way to make sure he never does anything of the kind again? I don't want to kill anyone."

"If he gives you his word, would you be able to believe it?" Anakin countered. "The man used to be Jedi and spent the better part of a decade trying to kill us. If a trial is going to end in a death sentence anyway, is it more efficient to just skip the middle section?"

By now, he was actually visibly showing some of the discomfort he felt on the inside. "I don't know," Ender replied, "I don't want to kill anyone." He might have stressed that last part a little too much.

Anakin was picking up on the discomfort, his heart twisting a little that someone so young understood this kind of lesson.

None of that showed in his expression. "If the chancellor ordered you to do it, would that change anything?"

"Not really," Ender replied. That was an easier one. His expression calmed. Stupid, really, that he'd let that get to him. Just useless hypotheticals. "I might do it." There. That was out there. "I might not. But a bad order is still a bad order, even if I follow it."

"Is it better to make a bad decision based on good reasons or a good one based on bad reasons?" Anakin asked.

He was totally channeling Obi-Wan in all of his obtuseness today.

"Now you're just being obtuse."

And Ender had no qualms in mentioning it. It helped him calm down even more. Anakin was still just another teacher, another adult.

Anakin smiled. "Perhaps."

Ethics [Tuesday, October 21, 2nd period]

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Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance

Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance

Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance

Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance