Practical Philosophy, Monday

[endsthegame]

"There are those of us who come here believing very strongly in duty," Ender said. "Others who come here to escape it - and some to who it's absolutely not a part of their lives."

He smiled a little.

"I had a mentor, once," he said. "I was told that people were free, unless humanity needed them, and that humanity never asked us to be happy, merely to act on its behalf - for its survival. Happiness, he felt, was a luxury that at times we could scarcely afford. To opt out of doing our duty at such a time was the worst crime imaginable: a crime of stupidity."

He took a sip of water. "I've met people who disagreed, since," he said. "I've also met people whose lives were so intricately bound to these rules they didn't even know where they stopped and the rules began. Some of you have already made your views fairly clear already, but I'm curious as to everyone else's input, too.

"How important is duty? Do we people all carry some grand responsibility to our species, or should we exist only for ourselves and the development of our self? And if we live for duty, then when does that end? Is there some point where all of us may be afforded personal freedom, or are we perpetually tied to our responsibilities, whether we flee from them or not?"

Comments

Re: Talk.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"What do you count as a crisis?" Cade wondered. "Kitty up a tree? Pub runs out of beer? Planetary warfare?"

Re: Talk.

[not_every_mage]

"I'd say you have to consider what else is going on before you start calling things crises," Anders shrugged. "Maybe something like planetary warfare's a crisis no matter what, but if a kitten's up a tree I think it's fine to finish your lunch before you go to help it."

Re: Talk.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Or see if someone else gets to it first," Cade said. "Just because you want to help doesn't mean you have to be the only who helps all the time. That's being a sucker."

Re: Talk.

[not_every_mage]

"Right, and that's another good point," Anders nodded. "If you have special kitten-out-of-tree skills, maybe you should get every kitten down. But if you'd be no better at it than anyone else, it's fine to let it be someone else once in a while. "

Re: Talk.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade nodded back. "Exactly. While you contribute to the 'where's all the ale?' crisis."