| Earlier in the book, Kidder introduced the four kinds of ethical dilemmas. He presented them as if they were irreconcilable, impossible to choose between. But now in Chapter Nine we learn which way he leans on each of them. Pick one of them and say if you share his view or not. ________________________________ All things being equal, here is where I tend to come down as I encounter these four paradigms: Compelled to choose between truth and loyalty, I would (all things being equal) come down on the side of truth. One reason: The history of this century suggests that those who put loyalty above truth (loyalty to Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, and even Richard Nixon) are capable of doing terrible damage to the world. It’s hard to imagine that kind of damage arising when truth is put above loyalty. Having to choose, I feel safer and more comfortable honoring what is true than following human allegiances. Compelled to choose between the individual and the community, I would (all things being equal) lean toward the community. One reason: Community includes self, but self does not always embrace community. Another reason: Individualism and its emphasis on rights has run to such extremes during the twentieth century that it has done serious damage to community and its emphasis on responsibilities. Were I a citizen of a post-Soviet country, I might feel otherwise: Seventy years of oppressive communism might have driven me to support the individual at any cost. But I’m not. My history, and that of my culture, has been different. Compelled to choose between short term and long term, I would (all things being equal) favor the long term. One reason: The long term always includes the short term, whereas short-term thinking (as the history of unbridled fossil fuel consumption demonstrates) does not always provide for the long term. Compelled to choose between justice and mercy, I would (all things being equal) stick with mercy, which to me speaks of love and compassion. One reason: I can imagine a world so full of love that justice, as we now know it, would no longer be necessary. But I cannot imagine a world so full of justice that there would no longer be any need for love. Given only one choice, I would take love. |
