fandomhigh | Ethics [Tuesday, January 19, 2nd period]

"Today we talk about something called the Golden Rule, a concept which unites many of the 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 seem to be a few 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 anything 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?"

He smiled. "I like to ask nice, easy questions."

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Zack chewed on his lip for a moment before speaking up.

"It seems to me as though the point of the rule is to treat people how you want to be treated, not how you don't mind being treated. But," and this was going to pain Zack-the-eternal-optimist to admit, "sometimes the world just doesn't work that way. If everything was really as simple as being nice to everybody all of the time, then there wouldn't be any need for things like SOLDIER, and war wouldn't exist. Either both sides would play nice in the first place, or else whoever did follow the Golden Rule would find themselves taken advantage of. You can't always just roll over and play nice, just because someone else will appreciate it."

He shrugged.

"I like to be nice to people as much as I can, but there's a line between being friendly and actually hurting yourself for someone else's gain."

Edited 2010-01-19 17:43 (UTC)

"Good," Anakin said. "That was well thought out. In war, the side with the least compunction to hold to the rules of civility--however they might be defined--tends to set the standard the other side must hold to. You can hold back all you like, but that tends to just make you noble in defeat."

"I actually have more respect for an opponent who has stood up and fought for what he believes in," Zack shared, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning a little. "They might be my enemy, and there are people out there who have sworn to take my head if they ever see me again... but they're fighting for their way of life, just like we're fighting for ours. You have to respect a person who stands up for his values, even if you'll never have grounds to agree with them. Someone who just sits back and gives up, though... Where's the honor in that?"

Yes. It all boiled down to honor with Zack. Still.

"There isn't any," Anakin said, nodding.

He didn't have much patience for pacifists.

Ethics [Tuesday, January 19, 2nd period]

Re: Answer one of his many, many questions!

Re: Answer one of his many, many questions!

Re: Answer one of his many, many questions!

Re: Answer one of his many, many questions!