fandomhigh | Philosophies of Good and Evil, Tuesday

Entry tags:

philosophy

Philosophies of Good and Evil, Tuesday

"Welcome back," Lana greeted them all. She was once again leaning against the desk at the front and looking suspiciously cheerful. "You all did so well last week, we thought we'd give you another example this week."

“Besides, our universe likes playing black and white so much, and this is a class about good and evil,” Atton drawled from his spot at the desk, feet propped up. “So why not look at every exercise from two perspectives?”

Lana pushed herself up and strode back and forth in front of the desk as she spoke. "So. Your country and the one next to it have been at odds so long that few people even remember why. You got a new leader who declared a largely unpopular war against the other country. The other country won, then took over your lands and proceeded to slaughter everyone they could, combatant or civilian, until you all fled for your lives. You've built up a new home where you are, and you're doing reasonably well, but your cultural and religious homeland is still under occupation. Your leader is pushing you to return and expel the invaders. Would doing so be good or evil?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

In shades of grey!

Liberty Hazlett

Stark

Illyana Rasputin

Anakin Skywalker

Beta

Wonder if their galaxy is always at war. (Yes. Yes it is.)

Discuss the first question!

"I think at that point," Liberty said, frowning slightly as she considered it, "it's less about a matter of good and evil so much as it is whether or not it would be wise to do so."

"This," Illyana agreed, pointing at Libby. "Forget 'good' or 'evil,' is it wise? If you don't even have the resources, let alone the will, it doesn't matter the ethics. Stupid is as stupid does, and stupid gets people killed."

Lana nodded. "Assume that you have the resources to do so. You've spent some time building up your defences, which also make for a very good offence."

"Is it the same leader that led to the loss of your country and the slaughter of your people?" Anakin asked. "Because if so, why would I be listening to anything they had to say ever again?"

"Good question," Lana said, laughing. "No, a ruler that took over after you fled."

"Still no," Anakin said. "There's a lesson to be learned in all actions, and this lesson was 'don't follow stupid leadership.'"

Lana nodded. "And how do you determine what stupid leadership is? Say this new leader has led your people to a good new place they never would have found on their own, kept you all together and mostly alive, and grown your civilization tremendously. What would it take for you to abandon them?"

"Them deciding to take that civilization growth and waste it recklessly on re-fighting the past," Anakin said. "Sometimes you just lose. Moving on is an important leadership skill too."

Lana nodded. "It can be a valuable lesson. Would you abandon your homeland, then? Your ancestors' graves, the seat of your religion, the place where most of your families lived and died?"

"I live here now," Anakin said with a little shrug. "My ancestors, whoever they were, don't care."

Lana smiled ruefully. "That makes you more sensible than some. But homelands can carry a huge baggage of nostalgia and emotion for a lot of people."

Except for Jedi, maybe.

"You've returned and successfully pushed back the invaders. You've found a few neighboring groups to ally with, and you've been working well together. You've blockaded and harassed your enemies effectively. You have the upper hand. Some of your leaders offer them a peace treaty, which they are considering and negotiating. While they're considering it, another leader takes the opportunity to attack the headquarters of their elite troops in their capital, decimating them and more or less forcing them to sign the treaty. Are his actions good or evil?"

"Evil," Libby answered back, without even a moment's hesitation in her this time. "Forcing someone to do anything, especially with brutal and bloody tactics, can never be truly good."

"What if by destroying these elite troops, you save thousands of your own people, as well as many of your opponents that would have been led into battle?" Lana pointed out.

"You've pushed your enemies into a peace treaty and regained some of your former lands. But they're arming rebels in one of those places, going against the treaty. The rebels are even killing their elected officials if they try to adhere to it; the whole country is under siege. You have the chance to blow up the rebels' base of operations, bringing peace. However, they've also been housing civilians uprooted by their actions, so you would be killing some innocents. So, would blowing them up fall under good or evil?"

"See what happens?" Libby said, drawing in a deep breath. "When you try to force something good?" But she shook her head and tried to push that away so she could focus on the actual question at hand.

"I think," she then said, "it would fall more under evil than good, because of the civilians. There's got to be another way than putting innocent lives...more innocent lives...at risk."

Lana nodded. "Does your answer change if the rebels have a number of large bombs they plan to set off in the capital?"

"Killing them, and innocents, wouldn't bring peace," Stark said. "It might stop the fighting for now. Might. It would just cause more bloodshed later."

"What makes you say that?" Lana asked curiously. She smiled. "I know some of the ways it can happen, but I'd like to hear your reasoning."

Who maybe need more coffee. Or maybe that's just me.

The calm and happy one is here!

The sad and cynical one was still hanging out with his feet up on the desk.

Enjoy!

I regret not signing Lili up for this class

I regret not signing my boys up as well.

Okay, so independent study group?

We find out this week's questions, and Lili comes over to the Manor for tea, so she can argue with both Steven and Marc via mirror.

Edited 2023-09-19 18:18 (UTC)

Lana will join in if there's coffee or tea.

yesgood.

Steven might have some tea available. Maybe.

Lili also does but she's ~~MISSING HER FAVORITE TEACUP, THE TRUEST TRAGEDY~~ lacking in conversational-abetting mirrors.

Edited 2023-09-19 19:05 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Philosophies of Good and Evil, Tuesday

Sign in!

Re: Sign in!

Re: Sign in!

Re: Sign in!

Re: Sign in!

Re: Sign in!

Listen to the lecture

Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Re: Class discussion

Question 2!

Re: Question 2!

Re: Question 2!

Question 3!

Re: Question 3!

Re: Question 3!

Re: Question 3!

Re: Question 3!

Talk to the teachers!

Lana Beniko

Re: Talk to the teachers!

OOC!

Re: OOC!

Re: OOC!

Re: OOC!

Re: OOC!

Re: OOC!

Re: OOC!

Re: OOC!