| Brooks wonderful essay referencing Ursula Le Guin's Omelas parable, which in sweet and pleasant prose, reveals the ugly moral dilemma at the heart of our social contract. In one reading this is a parable about exploitation. In another reading, the story is a challenge to the utilitarian mind-set so prevalent today. "In theory, most of us subscribe to a set of values based on the idea that a human being is an end not a means. You can't justifiably use a human being as an object. It is wrong to enslave a person, even if that slavery might produce a large good. It is wrong to kill a person for his organs, even if many lives might be saved. And yet we don't actually live according to that moral imperative. Life is filled with tragic trade-offs...
Don't miss this one... ripe for discussion here |
Read the rest of the story HERE:
At www.nytimes.com
At www.nytimes.com
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