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further comments on truth in homework
A semi-continuation of that entry from a day or two ago.
Question: Is one obliged to answer with one's true opinion questions like the following, paraphrased from my philosophy test: "You see two kids -- honor students, got into Yale, blah blah blah -- stealing a teacher's laptop. Without thinking, you immediately go to the (insert-school-authority-figure-here) and tell. Using what you've learned from Aristotle's stuff, is your action virtuous?"
Personally, I'd tell in an instant. Without thinking, and screw if it ruins their lives. Let's all say it together, boys and girls: stealing is wroooooong.
But that's not the side I chose to argue on the test. Instead, since we'd spent several classes discussing Aristotle's opinion that actions must be backed by reason in order to be truly virtuous, I attacked the "without thinking... immediately" part of the question and argued that since said reason is lacking the action doesn't count as virtuous according to Aristotle. That big gaping hole in the argument begs for the answer I gave, regardless of my personal opinion on the matter. I think it's Right to tell, but I think that it's easier to argue that Aristotle wouldn't have thought so.
My teacher, though, was surprised at the number of people who argued that telling wasn't virtuous according to Aristotle. He pointed out that really, it's courageous to tell, and presumably everyone's thought about stealing and its Wrongness before, though perhaps not in this particular event. And fine, excellent points all, and that would have been a wonderful way to do it. But it wasn't the semi-incorrect answer aspect that seemed to upset him, it was more that so many of us had justified keeping your mouth shut. And as the discussion unfolded, several people confirmed that it was their real opinion, that they thought you'd be ruining the larcenous honor students' lives, that they themselves had stolen in past, and "let he who is without sin cast the first stone", since they're no better themselves.
But I suspect I wasn't the only one sitting quietly in class thinking, I thought this was the answer you were looking for. I thought this was the answer that would help me pass this class. And frankly, this being a hypothetical question on the only test of the quarter, I felt that it was more important to try to give the correct answer than to attempt to justify what I would really do by referencing a dead Greek guy. Philosophy and deep questions are wonderful, and I think I'm learning interesting stuff in the course, but ultimately I think my decisions in life will have far more to do with how I was raised and my own personal code of honor, the stone of which is beginning to set as I grow perilously close to seventeen, which is almost eighteen, which is an ominous age indeed.
Before I go wax poetic and incoherent, the point is this. It's a test. It counts towards our grade, which counts toward our admittance to college, which we as high schoolers have been conditioned to believe the entire rest of our life depends upon. I don't think it's justified to be scandalized at people giving what they think is the correct answer rather than the Right answer.
Of course, I got an 81 on the test. Class average was mid-eighty-ish. It hurts. So really, what do I know?
(I would appreciate a rousing round of "81 is not failing!" appearing in my notes here about now. :) )
Question: Is one obliged to answer with one's true opinion questions like the following, paraphrased from my philosophy test: "You see two kids -- honor students, got into Yale, blah blah blah -- stealing a teacher's laptop. Without thinking, you immediately go to the (insert-school-authority-figure-here) and tell. Using what you've learned from Aristotle's stuff, is your action virtuous?"
Personally, I'd tell in an instant. Without thinking, and screw if it ruins their lives. Let's all say it together, boys and girls: stealing is wroooooong.
But that's not the side I chose to argue on the test. Instead, since we'd spent several classes discussing Aristotle's opinion that actions must be backed by reason in order to be truly virtuous, I attacked the "without thinking... immediately" part of the question and argued that since said reason is lacking the action doesn't count as virtuous according to Aristotle. That big gaping hole in the argument begs for the answer I gave, regardless of my personal opinion on the matter. I think it's Right to tell, but I think that it's easier to argue that Aristotle wouldn't have thought so.
My teacher, though, was surprised at the number of people who argued that telling wasn't virtuous according to Aristotle. He pointed out that really, it's courageous to tell, and presumably everyone's thought about stealing and its Wrongness before, though perhaps not in this particular event. And fine, excellent points all, and that would have been a wonderful way to do it. But it wasn't the semi-incorrect answer aspect that seemed to upset him, it was more that so many of us had justified keeping your mouth shut. And as the discussion unfolded, several people confirmed that it was their real opinion, that they thought you'd be ruining the larcenous honor students' lives, that they themselves had stolen in past, and "let he who is without sin cast the first stone", since they're no better themselves.
But I suspect I wasn't the only one sitting quietly in class thinking, I thought this was the answer you were looking for. I thought this was the answer that would help me pass this class. And frankly, this being a hypothetical question on the only test of the quarter, I felt that it was more important to try to give the correct answer than to attempt to justify what I would really do by referencing a dead Greek guy. Philosophy and deep questions are wonderful, and I think I'm learning interesting stuff in the course, but ultimately I think my decisions in life will have far more to do with how I was raised and my own personal code of honor, the stone of which is beginning to set as I grow perilously close to seventeen, which is almost eighteen, which is an ominous age indeed.
Before I go wax poetic and incoherent, the point is this. It's a test. It counts towards our grade, which counts toward our admittance to college, which we as high schoolers have been conditioned to believe the entire rest of our life depends upon. I don't think it's justified to be scandalized at people giving what they think is the correct answer rather than the Right answer.
Of course, I got an 81 on the test. Class average was mid-eighty-ish. It hurts. So really, what do I know?
(I would appreciate a rousing round of "81 is not failing!" appearing in my notes here about now. :) )