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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"'Those lesser than us?'" Anakin repeated. "Could you elaborate?"

"You can hardly expect a peasant to do unto a king what a king would do unto a peasant," he said, shrugging.

Social classes would never quite be jammed out of his brain, just obfuscated and nuanced.

"I think it would depend entirely on the king, or the peasant," Anakin replied. "Some kings would throw away thousands of peasants on a whim, and some peasants would work very hard to overthrow their king."

"Which also wouldn't stroke with the idea of 'do unto others'," he said, "Nevermind being the hallmark of a bad king."

"Then what is it that you can hardly expect from a peasant or a king?" Anakin asked. "Are their ethics going to be so far apart?"

Arthur shrugged. "A king's duty is to his people," he said, "A peasant's duty is to his family first, and then his liege. His concerns are smaller."

"Really." Anakin's tone was as dry as the desert he'd grown up in. "Have you spent a lot of time being a peasant?"

Arthur blinked at him. "Of course not."

"But you can write off their concerns as 'small' that easily," he replied, voice growing just a little intense. "Have you ever wondered where your next meal would come from? Or if there would be another? Ever had someone have absolute control over your life--and not a 'what will I be when I grow older' way--in a 'I wonder if I will live through this shift' way? These aren't small concerns."

Psst. Anakin. Your issues are showing.

"And have you ever wondered if your next word is going to mean a hundred people will die in a famine or not?" he shot back. "Where the next meal for an entire region came from? It is my job to mind their concerns."

"Yes," Anakin said shortly. "I didn't stay a peasant--not that we use that term at home."

"Mm," Arthur hummed, non-committally. "But you seem to be under the assumption that by 'smaller' I mean 'lesser', anyway. A king cannot do unto others. In the end he does unto all."

Edited 2010-01-20 06:49 (UTC)

"Smaller tends to mean lesser when spoken by most rulers," Anakin replied. "No one else can have his version, et cetera, et cetera. It's seldom true."

"Right..." Arthur blinked, as those last two sentences failed to make any sense to him whatsoever, but he continued anyway. "The people worry about whether their families will be fed, whether the wife will make it through the pregnancy, whether raiders are kept at bay and their own taxes are low," he said, "But when you lead, giving bread to one man might mean taking it out of another's mouth. Guarding one town may start a war with another nation. That doesn't mean you must act one way or another, but the consequences of your actions are far greater. A king can't afford to think of himself first."

Edited 2010-01-20 18:03 (UTC)

"You'll have to ask Leia about her current ruler," Anakin said dryly. "I can assure you that his people are far from first in his mind."

He was a little impressed despite himself that Arthur's were. It didn't jive with the vast majority of the politicians he'd met.

They weren't. Arthur was just insanely idealistic.

But don't tell anyone.

"Then he's hardly worth being called a ruler."

"That she'll agree with you on," Anakin said.

Pause.

"Don't date her."

Arthur stared at him. "Why would I want to do that?"

He was aiming for 'please, I have better things to do with my time'. He probably wound up more in the area of 'thoroughly whipped'.

Pause.

"Not that she isn't a lovely girl."

Edited 2010-01-20 18:28 (UTC)

He scowled because even when he was running off potential suitors, he didn't like them to not think Leia was the best thing that could potentially ever happen to them.

...it was very confusing, being Anakin.

"She's an idealistic, brilliant princess," he said. "What's not to like?"

Breasts?

"You never heard me disparage her qualities in any way," he said, diplomatically.

"Good," Anakin said, slightly appeased. "It would be one of the last things you did."

Arthur gave him a smile that was not entirely genuine (but practiced enough to seem it).

He was not going to take this as an excuse to be mean to Leia. He was above that kind of thing. ... He was just going to think about being mean to Leia now in a guilty, unprincely part of his mind.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Re: Answer one of his many, many questions!

Re: Answer one of his many, many questions!