Ethics [Tuesday, September 13, 2011]

[sith_happened]

"Hello, class," Anakin said. "Welcome back to this, the second day after my granddaughter's wedding... I trust that by being in class, you have recovered from the weekend and are no longer praying for death or amnesia, and will be able to participate fully in this discussion."

He went to the board and scrawled: "Utilitarianism: it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong," then turned to face his students. "Do you think this is true? If what gives the majority pleasure is watching Christians getting eaten by lions, or a four-day-marathon of Fear Factor, does that make it right? What will protect the rights of the individual--who in this example might be a Christian who enjoys PBS--or do those really matter?"

Comments

Re: Oooh, a hypothetical [9/13]

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"My first instinct is to say build the hospital, because physical health is important in order to be able to enjoy things like sporting events to their fullest," Toby admitted. "But what if building the sports stadium gives the city the revenue it needs to eventually build the hospital, and make other improvements? If there's a way the patients could be taken care of somewhere else without overburdening the system- overburdening it too much," he corrected himself, "then maybe it could be doable."