Philosophy

[mk_tortie]

I'm not normally one for philosophical debate... OK, maybe that's a lie, but I don't do it that often. But I've just read this (Warning: longageness!) http://teacherweb.ftl.pinecrest.edu/crawfor/apcg/Unit1Omelas.htm

Would I walk away? I'd like to say yes - but I don't think I would, in all honesty. I'm not brave enough. I like home comforts too much. I'd like to say I'd do something for the child, but I don't do anything about things I think are wrong within my own society, so why would I do something about that? I would want to, but I wouldn't.

That is terrible and I disgust myself, but it's the truth.

The thing is, even if I was brave enough to help the child, that would simply cause general misery rather than one person's wretchedness. So that's why walking away would be the only option. But on the other hand, walking away would feel like failure. And I wouldn't be able to do it anyway, because I wouldn't be brave enough. It's a Catch-22.

At least, I suppose, walking away into the unknown from there wouldn't mean getting shot or something. This made me think of situations like Nazi Germany and the Holocaust - there are sort of parallels.

Neither Omelas nor any of the parallels you could draw are Utopia by any means in my opinion.

Comments

Philosophical Contemplation-ageness

[guitar-lord.livejournal.com]

A slightly more horrific example is highlighted when you study AS Philosophy (like me :D)

A small group of people are being chased through a jungle. This group consists of 4 men, 3 women and 1 baby. The group finds a place to hide from their pursuers, but the baby won't stop crying. In such a situation, in such a situation, it is morally right to kill one infant, to save the lives of 7 others??


It just shows we all believe we are good people, who abhor suffering and believe in the sanctity of human life, but in either situations, the most humane actions could be deemed inhumane. There's the paradox right there,

Are humans capable of humanity???

There can be no perfection but flawed perfection

[mk-tortie.livejournal.com]

Another thing I thought later on when thinking about this (it occupied my mind for most of yesterday - this is why I didn't do Philosophy, I would never be able to stop thinking!) - you can't have a Utopian society, ie perfect perfection, because if everything is perfect then you don't know that it is because there is nothing to show you it is perfect. So the other thing about my example is that the child is there to show everyone else that they have perfection, so that they appreciate it. So the child is in a sense a metaphor. My feeling was that a better Utopia, if that's what you're aiming for, would be rather than have all of the 'necessary flaw' lumped on one person, everyone should have a small, equal amount of it. I suppose in our society today some people have more than others - a better way would be a sort of communist approach (in a weird sense)!

I really have thought too much about this...

On a side note, go the purple text colour!

interesting...

[born-to-try.livejournal.com]

surely one can't anticipate how one would react unless one was actually in the situation itself? it's easy enough to say "oh yeah, I would do this or that" but unless you had actually lived in that society for your whole life, and formed really strong emotional attachments to all the people and places - as much as you currently do in this life you're living - your entire attitude to life would be completely different. I know we are all intelligent to be capable of empathy here, but wouldn't our lives' outlook be totally different?

discuss!