Ethics [Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 1st period]

[sith_happened]

"Morning, class," Anakin began, striding to the front of the class. "Today we begin discussions about Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, though his influence stretched into many other areas of physical science as well. He believed that justice meant giving each person their due, or what they deserve. But how do we know what people deserve? What goods and opportunities should go to which people? Aristotle’s answer is that we have to consider the telos—the end or the purpose—of the good in question. For example, say we have some nice flutes. Who should get them? According to Aristotle, it’s not the rich person, since playing flutes has nothing to do with money. Nor is it the person who will be made most happy, since making good music is different than being happy. The purpose of a flute is to be played, and to be played well. So, Aristotle thinks, the flutes should go to the best flute players. Do you agree?"

Comments

Re: Answer the discussion question! [10/25]

[exactlyaverage.livejournal.com]

"I think the whole idea of nice flutes going to the best flute players is nice but... the whole thing gets complicated with who decides what," Jack said trying phrase his thoughts. "I mean, who's to say one flute player is better than another? Also does that mean a loaf of bread goes to the person who is the most hungry? How does that get decided. Plus what if someone just wants to play a flute? What if I was good at it but wanted to play baseball? Yeah, I think it starts falling apart once you start trying to put it into practice."

Re: Answer the discussion question! [10/25]

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "Is the purpose of bread to nourish or to be enjoyed?" he asked. "Because if it's to be enjoyed, shouldn't it be given to some kind of food critic instead? I think like a lot of the philosophies we've talked about, it runs into real problems when we implement it in the world."