Ethics [Tuesday, February 10, 2nd period]

[sith_happened]

Anakin was in a very good mood this morning. Something about seeing old friends and a wife's ex-boyfriend transformed into a girl had cheered him right up.

"Today we talk about something called the Golden Rule, a concept which unites many separate religions on this planet," he began, leaning 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 [2/10]

[sith_happened]

With your most forgiving icon. Which Anakin doesn't have. Heh.

Re: Sign in [2/10]

[rocksthescarf.livejournal.com]

Chuck Bass

Listen to the lecture [2/10]

[sith_happened]

Take notes, pass out, wonder just how many questions Anakin can ask in a single class...

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/10]

[gobrookeyourself]

That really was a lot of questions. Brooke may have spaced out around the third one.

Answer discussion question #1 [2/10]

[sith_happened]

Logical flaws of the Golden Rule! Should you go around poking people in the stomach because you don't mind getting poked? Randomly hurt people just in case they're evil?

Re: Answer discussion question #1 [2/10]

[talks2objects.livejournal.com]

"I always try to treat other people nicely, in the hope that they'll be polite in return," Dor said thoughtfully. "But I don't expect others the follow my example. In fact I think the idea of the rule is really what you do and say reflect who you are as a person. Or something like that."

Re: Answer discussion question #1 [2/10]

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but... someone once told me that what's 'nice' is kinda relative," Hurley said. "So... it's hard to make rules and... stuff."

Re: Answer discussion question #1 [2/10]

[intraspective]

"What's nice?" she asked, after shooting a bit of a glance at Hurley. "I mean, sometimes someone is being nice but the other person thinks they're a jerk 'cause their 'nice-nesses'," that was totally a word in Ino's opinion, come on, "don't match up."

Re: Answer discussion question #1 [2/10]

[gobrookeyourself]

"Maybe just don't suck?" Brooke suggested.

Really, she'd done a lot of things she wouldn't have wanted to dhave done to her. She made up for the things she felt bad about...

Re: Answer discussion question #1 [2/10]

[future_sandworm]

"The rule does not take into account differences of value or of position," Leto replied. "It expects two parties to be equal, which is hardly ever the case. Of course, one might extrapolate and expect everyone to enter the mindset of the other when determining the right action, but that is not inherent in the rule.

Re: Answer discussion question #1 [2/10]

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

"Well, just because you don't mind getting poked doesn't mean you necessarily want people to poke you," Joan pointed out. "And if you don't want people to hurt you in case you're evil, then you shouldn't do that to them."

Re: Answer discussion question #1 [2/10]

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"If you look at it that way they are certainly logical flaws. But the basic idea of being good to others seems quite basic," Helen said.

Re: Answer discussion question #1 [2/10]

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"It's a dumb rule."

Triela didn't feel the need to elaborate. It was, after all, obvious why, right?

Re: Answer discussion question #1 [2/10]

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

"Um. Well, I can usually tell right away if a person doesn't deserve my kindness," Sookie said slowly, "but I always go in with the assumption that people are nice and deserve a smile."

Answer discussion question #2 [2/10]

[sith_happened]

Does putting something on a mug make it meaningful or waaaay overused?

Re: Answer discussion question #2 [2/10]

[talks2objects.livejournal.com]

"I think it means that someone is just trying to make money off a catchphrase," Dor said with a shrug. "Doesn't make it less true."

Re: Answer discussion question #2 [2/10]

[intraspective]

...

"...maybe it depends on the phrase? Sometimes repetition works!"

Re: Answer discussion question #2 [2/10]

[gobrookeyourself]

"...It's on coffee mugs?" Brooke asked.

Re: Answer discussion question #2 [2/10]

[future_sandworm]

Leto smirked. "Mugs?"

Re: Answer discussion question #2 [2/10]

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

"I think it just makes it something you want to remember," Joan said. "Like the mug me and my brothers got my dad with our picture."

Re: Answer discussion question #2 [2/10]

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

"Not necessarily," Helen answered, though she couldn't see why anyone would make such a thing. "It could serve as a pleasnt reminder, I suppose."

Re: Answer discussion question #2 [2/10]

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"Could depend on your feelings about mugs," Peter pointed out.

Talk to the TAs!

[sith_happened]

Form of...TAs!

Re: Talk to the TAs!

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Zayne was here, ready to be nice to everyone.

Talk to Anakin [2/10]

[sith_happened]

He's smiling and everything. Creepy.

Re: Talk to Anakin [2/10]

[intraspective]

"Master Skywalker," Ino chirped, her wee mental walls drawn as tight as they'd go. "I want to apologize for missing class last week."

OOC

[sith_happened]

So the world doesn't end! Feel free to bounce off each other's answers. Make the threads messy, mwahaha!

Re: OOC

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

I'm facepalming at Triela. ONE DAY SHE WILL GAIN A SENSE OF SELF-PRESERVATION.

Or something.