fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, February 2]

Anakin had seen many horrible things over the course of his life: torture of indivduals, deaths of planets, Palpatine with his hood down...but he had not been expecting a creepy doll waiting for him in his office crying for its Mama as it hovered. And before coffee, of all things. So if he was here looking slightly more...awake...than usual, blame that.

"Morning, class," Anakin said leaning against his desk at the front and keeping his eyes peeled for other dolls. "Today we learn about Immanuel Kant," he began, gesturing to the TAs to hand out information on the man. "He was an influential German philosopher on this planet several hundred years ago who thought every action should have pure intention behind it; otherwise it was meaningless. He did not necessarily believe that the final result was the most important aspect of an action, but that how the person felt while carrying out the action was the time at which value was set to the result."

In his mind, Anakin could hear Obi-Wan nattering on about how many of the truths people cling to depending upon their point of view. He shook his head to clear it and continued. "In other words, it's not the results that make something moral but why you made that decision, and Kant believed that only decisions made purely out of duty have moral worth. For instance, Kant spoke of a shopkeeper who passed up the chance to shortchange a customer only because his business might suffer if other customers found out. According to Kant, the shopkeeper’s action had no moral worth because he did the right thing for the wrong reason."

He paced the room. "What do you think of Kant's conclusion? Is he being too hard on that shopkeeper? What of people who are in the habit of being good without thinking? Is that being moral, or just being conditioned to interact correctly with society?"

He glanced around the room. "And if you see any, um, creepy dolls, raise your hand or shriek or something, all right?"

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"Is Kant being too hard on the shopkeeper?" and "What about people who are in the habit of being good without thinking: is that being moral, or just being conditioned to interact correctly with society?"

Pick one and answer it!

"I don't know how moral it is if someone is being good without thinking about it," Gabrielle offered. "It's admirable, but not exactly moral if there isn't any belief in the right thing to do behind it, is it?"

"Besides," she added, thinking of Vanessa and the Pomira, "good according to which society? You can have one group of people who believe that natural resources are there for us to use as we see fit, and another who believe strongly that the way the first group uses those resources is disrespectful to the earth, or to their gods. To that second group it might be the right thing to do to stop the first group by whatever means necessary, and I think it's safe to say the first group would disagree. So whose definition of good do we mean?"

"Excellent point," Anakin said approvingly. "And time affects society's idea of morals as well. What was considered normal several generations ago could be seen now as incredibly wrong. What do you think Kant would say?"

"I don't know," Gabrielle admitted, "but I have to wonder if he'd change his mind if he had the advantage of living somewhere like this."

She rustled the handout she was holding.

"It says here that he never traveled more than ten miles from home. I have to think he had a real disadvantage there. Never really getting to see how other people live, or how they think, or the kind of experiences they go through . . . it's one thing to hear stories, but."

She smiled. "That's never, ever the same as the real thing."

"Shouldn't it only matter if people are good, no matter the reason?" Dorothy asked, not quite answering either question. "I don't know if the reasoning is so important if it ends up with everyone being good."

"Perhaps," Anakin replied, "but it wouldn't give us a great deal to talk about in a class about Ethics. Are they being good because people are just born being good, or because they've been conditioned to behave in a certain way by society?"

"Well, I think it's hardly right to think people are born evil," Dorothy said. "In fact, I don't think many people do what they think is wrong. Most do what they think is right, it just seems wrong to other people."

Dorothy had not run into a creepy doll, though Anakin was pretty sure Kant would not want to apply human morals to possessed toys.

"And if they are doing what they believe is their duty, even if mainstream society would disagree, do you think Kant would approve?"

"If he only believes that people should act from their own thoughts, then yes," Dorothy said. "But that means that there's not real right or wrong, only... relative right and wrong?"

That didn't sound right to her, even if she seemingly agreed with the idea.

"How would one know what is good?" Loki asked thoughtfully. "If one lived within a vacuum, it would be impossible to tell as only how your actions affect others is the proper measure. Which implies that morality is conditioned into one. The implication further implies that, left to their own devices, a being could be unimaginably evil."

Ethics [Thursday, February 2]

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