Life of Pride
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Pragmatism. Realism. Idealism. These are words that spark debates at PHC. What over? Take this classic classroom activity in situational ethics:
You and a group of your friends are in a lifeboat. It is overloaded and about to sink. Who do you throw off to drown?
Then you are forced to pick one of your friends to "vote off" the boat. Murder for the greater good.
Or what about the young female spy who is told to prostitute herself for the sake of finding out crucial information that may save millions of lives?
In short, these types of situations argue that the ends justify the means. This is pragmatism - realism! - argue some people. These are the sorts of tough decisions we all have to make sometimes.
Personally, I argue for "Batman," or "Harry Potter" ethics. The Joker has Batgirl tied up and dangling over one pot of acid, and Robin over another. "Choose!" he tells Batman. Then he drops them. Batman, of course, instantly devises some clever means to save both. He never even considers the possibility that he will have to pick. Similarly, Harry Potter does not risk human life for the sake of winning a competition. He saves the foreign girl's younger sister as well as Ron.
In my idealism, I refuse to countenance the puzzles of situational ethics, because they lack imagination. They present a two-dimensional choice, when there are always other options. I firmly believe that God would never place us in a situation in which we were forced to do something blatantly wrong. It is better to cut off one's hand than to sin with it. If it comes down to it, it is better for our true lives - our eternal souls - that our bodily selves die, rather than that we murder anyone. But I believe God always comes through, even if it is at the absolutely last second. And I think this idealism is the most real thing of all, because God is real.
You and a group of your friends are in a lifeboat. It is overloaded and about to sink. Who do you throw off to drown?
Then you are forced to pick one of your friends to "vote off" the boat. Murder for the greater good.
Or what about the young female spy who is told to prostitute herself for the sake of finding out crucial information that may save millions of lives?
In short, these types of situations argue that the ends justify the means. This is pragmatism - realism! - argue some people. These are the sorts of tough decisions we all have to make sometimes.
Personally, I argue for "Batman," or "Harry Potter" ethics. The Joker has Batgirl tied up and dangling over one pot of acid, and Robin over another. "Choose!" he tells Batman. Then he drops them. Batman, of course, instantly devises some clever means to save both. He never even considers the possibility that he will have to pick. Similarly, Harry Potter does not risk human life for the sake of winning a competition. He saves the foreign girl's younger sister as well as Ron.
In my idealism, I refuse to countenance the puzzles of situational ethics, because they lack imagination. They present a two-dimensional choice, when there are always other options. I firmly believe that God would never place us in a situation in which we were forced to do something blatantly wrong. It is better to cut off one's hand than to sin with it. If it comes down to it, it is better for our true lives - our eternal souls - that our bodily selves die, rather than that we murder anyone. But I believe God always comes through, even if it is at the absolutely last second. And I think this idealism is the most real thing of all, because God is real.
Comments:
Nate, I don't think my argument makes me antiwar. I don't think fighting for the right cause and killing other people out of necessity is murder. It makes me a "just war" theorist, that's all.
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