Ethics [Tuesday, January 19, 2nd period]

[sith_happened]

"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."

Comments

Re: Answer one of his many, many questions!

[not_tylerdurden]

"I did say theoretically," Calvin pointed out. "And you have to admit that the idea that those who lie, treat others like dirt, or generally act like selfish, entitled douches get called on it instead of getting away scot-free, or even being defended and enabled, is an attractive one."