Practical Philosophy, Monday

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"It's been a quiet week," Ender said, "But for the market. It's left me thinking about an old class topic: our judgment of others, and what it means."

He took a swig from a bottle of water. "It's the idea of judging people that drove the human philosophers of old into endless debates, on when it was okay to judge something terrible or evil. They developed extensive theories on what made something good and right. Take the old Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Aristotle, who believed in what's called 'virtue ethics' - the idea that the character of the person defines the morality of his actions. Socrates argued, for instance, that if a person knew what was right, then he would do right. It was only not knowing what 'good' was that might cause someone to do evil."

"Then there were the stoics, who believed virtue laid in contentment, in being happy with what you're given, whatever it was. Opposite them, the hedonists, who believed 'good' was anything that made you feel happy. Later philosophers came up with the theory of consequentialism, the idea that your morality depends on the consequences of what you does. Some philosophers felt that good deeds were only good if they worked to better the country, for instance. On the other hand, deontologists such as Kant believed that goodness came from doing, and the reasons someone might have to do something. If you were doing something out of duty, for instance, then according to Kant, you were doing some good. 'Nothing in the world can possibly be conceived which could be called good without qualification except a good will.' Your intentions are what make you good."

He sat back.

"As I said, we all make our judgments. Of ourselves, of the people around us, of their pasts - especially around here. On what do you base your judgments? I think most of us realize that there is no such thing as pure good and evil - but how we judge other people tends to depend a lot on what we were taught and where we come from."

Another faint smile.

"I personally believe that character is important," he said. "Once you try to understand what makes people do what they do, it becomes that much harder to see them as evil. After all, most of us do what we think is right, even if our ideas of what right is are different. And in doing these things, we inspire other people to act in their own way."

Comments

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Judgmental.

Re: Sign In!

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Peridot

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[boneyard_girl]

Ada Miller

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Mara Jade

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[notfinnyet]

FN-2187

Listen to the Lecture

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It's a long one this time, but at least it's outside?

Talk.

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On what do you base your judgments?

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"I base my judgments on the needs and goals of Homeworld," Peridot replied, probably surprising nobody. Ever. "I don't know if right and wrong are something that I consider - they both seem like very... emotional concepts."

And Peridot really, really preferred her logic and reason.

"But... I do look at whether or not something is logical. Logic is important."

Re: Talk.

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"Have you ever encountered a situation where Homeworld's needs and goals ran contrary to logic?" Ender asked.

Yeah, he wasn't surprised.

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Peridot just shook her head at that.

"I did have a disagreement with a Jasper about our respective priorities on a mission, and her actions were directly responsible for the destruction of our ship and my being stranded here. But the Jasper's goals were irrelevant to the mission at hand. I don't believe they accurately reflect Homeworld's wishes."

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"Is that your interpretation, or is that what Homeworld informed you of?" Ender said, tilting his head.

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"Without even informing Homeworld of her intentions, she brought enemy Gems onto the ship who then overtook it and crashed us," Peridot replied, a bit dryly. "The mission was entirely unrelated. I was supposed to be taking readings of activity within the Earth's core, that's all."

Completely unrelated.

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"So she went off the mission parameters you'd been given," Ender said. "And her behavior was reckless. Do you know why she did it?"

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Peridot hesitated for a moment, and then she nodded a little.

"I can guess. Those enemies cost Homeworld a great deal, thousands of Earth's years ago. Jasper recognized one in particular. I believe she felt a... grudge. And then she decided to override my mission in the name of revenge."

Costing them everything.

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"And how do you feel about that?"

Ender picked up a bottle of water.

Look, he could tell how Peridot felt about that. Didn't mean she didn't need to talk about it.

Re: Talk.

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"I base my judgements on my gut reaction," Mara said carefully. Saying "the Force" was just a terrible idea on many levels.

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"But how can you be sure that those are the right calls?" Ender asked.

Who knew very much what she was referring to.

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"Experience," Mara said.

The vast experience of being 16, yeah.

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"Of what?" Ender asked.

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"Life."

Calm down a bit there, Hot Topic.

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"You'll have to elaborate," Ender said.

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Mara made a little face. "I use the things I was taught by my tutors and my own common sense to make judgement calls. Better?"

Re: Talk.

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"Better," Ender agreed. "Do you adjust according to new data?"

Talk to the Teacher

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If that's more your speed.

OOC

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I've been running on anxiety all night and I haven't even gotten started on anything important yet. Kill me.