Discuss the below:
Latina17,
Though the reading started off with 8 year old Sophie who has no shame in telling the truth no matter the consequence, she did end up lying. When a schoolmate asked who still liked Barney, Sophie was not truthful. She later told 1 friend that she did still like Barney, Sophie was scared to tell the truth because it could have harmed her social status at school. Sophie is obviously confused about when to lie and when not to lie. She seems to think that its ok to lie if the truth could hurt herself but its not ok to lie even if her truthful words could hurt another. I personally do not agree with how Sophie reacted. If it's ok for her to lie to protect herself, how come its not ok for her to lie to protect another persons feelings?
Jamie
Shombee
The ethical dilemma for Sophie is whether or not to tell a lie. Like Sophie, sometimes it is best to not respond than to hurt someone's feelings. In the second example, Sophie chooses to withhold information when her classmate asks if anyone likes Barney. Instead, she chooses to confide in her friend that she in fact still likes Barney. Nonetheless, Sophie's mom and her readiness to lie and to encourage her daughter to lie is an example of utilitarianism. Sophie's mom feels that in an effort to spare the other kids feelings that Sophie should be able to say that likes something with regards to the bike when Sophie in fact does not find anything appealing about the bike. However, when the situation with Barney comes up, her Mom believes that Sophie will lie when faced with embarrassment until Sophie comes clean with her friend. At that moment, Sophie's mom realizes that she could learn from Sophie's moral character.
Tessia
The ethical dilemmas posed by Sophie's "inability" to lie are numerous:
1. Is it worth hurting the feelings of her friends and loved ones, to preserve her own feeling of morailty?
2. Will Sophie be able to distinguish between potentially harmless, white lies and lies that carry heavier consequences in the future?
3. Will Sophie's mother be able to justify to herself her persuasion of her daughter to decive others?
4. Will Sophie's inability to lie to her friend with the bike cause the friend to venture out and steal another child's bike because she is no longer happy with her original bike?
And the list could go on and on ...
The possible solutions include:
1. A utilitarian approach, in which Sophie does what is best for the greatest number of people involved. This could mean that she considers only those immediately involved - herself and her friend. This approach does not help Sophie greatly because Sophie would benefit most by keeping her own morality, and the friend would benefit most from the little white lie. Sophie is therefore at an impasse. However, if we take Sophie's mother into account as well, it seems that the utilitarian approach recommends that Sophie tell the little white lie. Sophie's mother would like her daughter to learn the value of compassion, meaning that two people benefit more from Sophie telling the lie. This shouldall be taken with a grain of salt, as they say, because who am I to decide what is best for Sophie, her friend, and her mother? All I can do as an observer is take my best guess. This type of lie does not have legal implications, so we are absent the objective guidance of the judiciary system.
2. The Kantian approach of course stipulates that Sophie tell her friend the truth, because that is the only right thing to do. There is not much more to ruminate on regarding Kant's theory. It is as black and white as ethical theories come.
To continue Sophie's scenario further, let us assume that she takes the Kantian approach going forward, and continues to tell her friend the honest truth. She should be prepared to receive the just consequences of her actions, and receive little compassion for her feelings from her friend in return. After all, that is only what is just, which, according to Aristotle, means that equals should be treated equally, unless there are pertinent differences. It may be the eventual lack of compassion on her friends' part which brings Sophie to the realization that little white lies to preserve the feelings of others are not always the wrong direction to take.
Reference List
Velasquez, M. (Winter 1989). Calculting Consequences: The Utilitarian Approach to Ethics. Issues in Ethics, V2. Retrieved from
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/calculating.html.
Velasquez, M. (Spring 1990). Justice and Fairness. Issues in Ethics, V3. Retrieved from:
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/justice.html.