Ethics [Thursday, October 29, 1st period]

[sith_happened]

Judging from what Raven had told him about Tuesday night and what several members of his class had seen, Anakin believed that this lecture probably couldn't have come at a better time.

"Today we talk about diligence, temperance, and forgiveness," he said quietly, "and we're going to use examples from the midterm exam to do so."

He flipped the hologram to life with a wave of his hand and it focused in 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 Sith Lord arrived, you certainly had the option of retreating and leaving the mission for someone else to complete. A Sith's job, after all, is to kill Jedi, and there were only two of you against him. 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?"

Comments

Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance

[gods-gymnast.livejournal.com]

"Doing the right thing is never wrong," she said, glancing sideways at Karla. "Doing the moral thing isn't either. Even if people who govern the laws are corrupt, the laws themselves are not, and never are all of the people who deal with them. Taking things into your own hands, making yourself the 'god' of the situation--who are you then, to decide who lives and dies? how are you 'better' and 'able' to decide that? you're just as fallible as anyone else--a bad person will twist the law or ignore it."

"A good person will follow the law because the laws are done for a reason and that reason is to bring order to chaos."

Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance

[glacial_queen]

"The big difference is that I was raised to believe that the moral thing is protecting those who can't protect themselves and to whom I am responsible for," Karla said. "His death accomplishes this. Handing him over to corrupt authorities does not. By my people's code, killing him is the moral path." She shrugged. "That may not be relevant for this scenario, but it's the position I'm arguing from. A good person will do what was necessary to protect the innocent and be willing to face the consequences of his or her actions. "

Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance

[gods-gymnast.livejournal.com]

"Is a good person really a good person if they use the same methods as the bad?" Maron asked, looking at her. "Because then it is easy to is the slippery slope that turns good people into bad people under the flag of 'they had good intentions'."

She twirled a pen around in one hand, almost absently. "I can't think of a situation where I'd be willing to kill someone," Maron said honestly. "And maybe that's why I don't agree with you. Maybe I'm too..." She shrugged helplessly. "Naive."

Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance

[life_inshadow]

"Maybe if there was a direct threat," Tara said, jumping into the discussion like a ping-stealing whore. "Like -- if someone was an axe murderer and he was coming at your friend with an axe. Then I think it's -- not okay? But the best option."

Re: Answer the discussion question: temperance

[gods-gymnast.livejournal.com]

"In self defence?" Maron looked conflicted, but nodded. "That's a different situation entirely, I think, though I'd still rather believe that people should restrain them rather than kill them."

"But that's not--the same as taking justice into your own hands. If someone is doing bad things and you know about, and plan to take them out, then that's not... right. I don't understand how that's making hypothetical-you any better than they are."