Hmm. Time flies when you're on the run. I've been working on my thesis for my MA, so my brainspace has been more than a little cluttered these past two months. Things are starting to even out, so perhaps I'm back.
Here's a rather pedantic example of the way in which my mind has been working recently:
Classical Moral Question of Finding Silver Linings
A married adult's spouse has the misfortune of having a rare genetic defect that doesn't manifest itself for many years, and when it does it has the effect of making the married adult's spouse into little more than a piece of furniture. We're talking no movement, no speech, no real indication that the married adult's spouse is even alive and reacting to the world other than the vital signs that are supplied through the use of monitoring equipment that's been in use since the married adult placed the spouse into the hospital. Little bleeps and blips and wavering lines are all the indication that the married adult receives that the spouse has not bought some type of grazing land and animals to go with it. Understandably, the married adult, heretofore a believer in karma and the interconnectedness of the world and general eastern philosophies about how bad things don't happen to good people, begins to question what the spouse must have done to have had this happen and how life could be so unfair as to burden said spouse with this genetic defect that none of said spouse's other relatives have ever manifested even though none of them have ever shown the type of compassion for their fellow human beings that the spouse has shown. And so it's not exactly a time in the married adult's life that could be considered peachy keen.
Eventually it comes to light that there's a specialist who has in the past treated individuals who have possessed the same genetic defect as the married adult's spouse's with an unbelievably high rate of success. The specialist comes to the hospital to meet with the married adult and the spouse, and it turns out that the specialist is optimistic about the chances with regards to the helping of the married adult's spouse and the alleviating of the really nasty coma-like symptoms that have manifested. And at first the married adult is greatly relieved to hear this because the spouse had up to this point been quite the perfect spouse, and the onset of the rare genetic defect had been seen as the worst possible thing to ever happen to the married adult, what with the whole spouse being little more than a piece of furniture bit, but then something happens. Over the months of preliminary treatments, during which the specialist and the married adult spend a great deal of time together alone and discussing everything from what symptoms the married adult's spouse had had before the onset of these particularly nasty coma-like ones to matters not traditionally covered in dialogues between doctors and patients included some rather racy discussions about nocturnal habits, the married adult comes to realize that the specialist is in possession of many qualities that the married adult's spouse was lacking; lacking qualities which, incidentally, the married adult had, previous to the marriage, deemed necessary for any type of significant relationship. In short, the married adult comes to believe that the specialist represents to the married adult a companion on the order of a "soul mate."
And so the married adult comes to realize that a relationship with the specialist might be favorable to a relationship with the married adult's spouse, which presents the problem of the fact that the married adult's spouse is due to undergo treatment that will undo the damage done by the rare genetic defect, which will return the married adult's relationship back to its previous state. The married adult does not want this, having found something akin to a soul mate in the specialist. The specialist has feelings similar to those felt by the married adult and has nauseous desires to claim an inability to treat the married adult's spouse to allow a relationship with the married adult to proceed unfettered by the presence of a non-coma-like spouse. The married adult's spouse remains blissfully unaware of these concerns.
Q1. To what extent do we depend on assigning a sex to the participants to determine our sympathies towards them?
Q2. Is there any extenuating information that would lead one to side with the married adult and the specialist on a decision of not reviving the married adult's spouse?
Here's a rather pedantic example of the way in which my mind has been working recently:
Classical Moral Question of Finding Silver Linings
A married adult's spouse has the misfortune of having a rare genetic defect that doesn't manifest itself for many years, and when it does it has the effect of making the married adult's spouse into little more than a piece of furniture. We're talking no movement, no speech, no real indication that the married adult's spouse is even alive and reacting to the world other than the vital signs that are supplied through the use of monitoring equipment that's been in use since the married adult placed the spouse into the hospital. Little bleeps and blips and wavering lines are all the indication that the married adult receives that the spouse has not bought some type of grazing land and animals to go with it. Understandably, the married adult, heretofore a believer in karma and the interconnectedness of the world and general eastern philosophies about how bad things don't happen to good people, begins to question what the spouse must have done to have had this happen and how life could be so unfair as to burden said spouse with this genetic defect that none of said spouse's other relatives have ever manifested even though none of them have ever shown the type of compassion for their fellow human beings that the spouse has shown. And so it's not exactly a time in the married adult's life that could be considered peachy keen.
Eventually it comes to light that there's a specialist who has in the past treated individuals who have possessed the same genetic defect as the married adult's spouse's with an unbelievably high rate of success. The specialist comes to the hospital to meet with the married adult and the spouse, and it turns out that the specialist is optimistic about the chances with regards to the helping of the married adult's spouse and the alleviating of the really nasty coma-like symptoms that have manifested. And at first the married adult is greatly relieved to hear this because the spouse had up to this point been quite the perfect spouse, and the onset of the rare genetic defect had been seen as the worst possible thing to ever happen to the married adult, what with the whole spouse being little more than a piece of furniture bit, but then something happens. Over the months of preliminary treatments, during which the specialist and the married adult spend a great deal of time together alone and discussing everything from what symptoms the married adult's spouse had had before the onset of these particularly nasty coma-like ones to matters not traditionally covered in dialogues between doctors and patients included some rather racy discussions about nocturnal habits, the married adult comes to realize that the specialist is in possession of many qualities that the married adult's spouse was lacking; lacking qualities which, incidentally, the married adult had, previous to the marriage, deemed necessary for any type of significant relationship. In short, the married adult comes to believe that the specialist represents to the married adult a companion on the order of a "soul mate."
And so the married adult comes to realize that a relationship with the specialist might be favorable to a relationship with the married adult's spouse, which presents the problem of the fact that the married adult's spouse is due to undergo treatment that will undo the damage done by the rare genetic defect, which will return the married adult's relationship back to its previous state. The married adult does not want this, having found something akin to a soul mate in the specialist. The specialist has feelings similar to those felt by the married adult and has nauseous desires to claim an inability to treat the married adult's spouse to allow a relationship with the married adult to proceed unfettered by the presence of a non-coma-like spouse. The married adult's spouse remains blissfully unaware of these concerns.
Q1. To what extent do we depend on assigning a sex to the participants to determine our sympathies towards them?
Q2. Is there any extenuating information that would lead one to side with the married adult and the specialist on a decision of not reviving the married adult's spouse?
VIEW 16 of 16 COMMENTS
i'm not sure i have unique answers for your dilemmas.
q1: i personally do not give a flying, cocksucking, shit whether the participants are male or female and gay, straight or bisexual. i understand you're probably posing both of these questions because society at large does not yet have an egalitarian view on such predicaments but then again they should. even supposedly progressive thinkers might have closeted biases towards a male adult suffering from lackofsexitis or a female adult suffering from insensitivehusbanditis but then again, i'd hope we've already adressed as a society the fact that women want/need sex and men need a sensitive woman as well. i really do hope so. i imagine also some might favor the adult "opting out" of a homosexual relationship for a straight one with the specialist, or disfavor a homosexual adult "opting out" of his/her previously gay relationship for a straight 'healthier' one with the specialist. i choose not to associate with such closed-minded pricks though, so i can't really speak for them as a part of the 'we' you address ("To what extent do WE depend on assigning...).
q2: yes. i think one could NEARLY righteously be swayed by information that the spouse was previously guilty of infidelity or otherwise immoral behavior. or if the spouse was frigid, or if the spouse was quarrelsome. HOWEVER, it is of my belief that any of these stands would be neglecting the essential moral dilemma...opting NOT to save a life, regardless of the spouse's prior behavior/attitudes is disgustingly immoral. the fact that the adult and the specialist would be benefiting from not saving the life in terms of a relationship is that extra slap in the face after the spouse has been proverbially been kicked in the balls. what an unprofessional doctor, and what a louse of a wife/husband. then again, i would save hitler, osama bin laden, AND saddam hussein on the surgery table given the choice to deny care. that's just me.
do logical people really get stumped by these dilemmas?
wrt your post on photography. i do agree. almost. i'm not sure painting is still actively evolving at as fast a rate right now compared to other art forms. i thought about this after a trip to pittsburgh and the andy warhol museum. it seems that there was some sort of schism either due to andy or that fostered andy...this is probably documented but then again, i'm a scientist so it's all new to me...i personally feel that a lot of artists that would before attempt to capture aesthetic beauty have been attracted by commercial design, entertainment design, etc. andy was seemingly the turning point to that. contemporary artists seem to either be stuck in a corner trying to push abstract, defragmented art EVEN further. that's all i saw when i went to the museum of contemporary art two weekends ago (a week after visiting the warhol)...and it made me feel like commercialism is attracting artists & photographers that have the talent for creating aesthetically beautiful pieces, while remaining painters, photographers, etc. may have a really strong vision and purpose keeping them in a less lucrative position, but they perhaps lack the ability to communicate their ideas well to others through their pieces - or maybe don't care to. maybe it's just that artists these days are trying to outdo each other, but in my eyes it appears to be the time-old nonconformist situation - all the noncomformists are conforming in the same way, at the same time to each other but none of them realize it.
hopefully you expected such a detailed response...