Would you walk away from Omelas?

[Eran of Arcadia]

Just imagine, what if? There are all sorts of interesting moral questions that can't or don't come up in reality, but are still worth pondering.

 

[Contempo]

Just imagine, what if? There are all sorts of interesting moral questions that can't or don't come up in reality, but are still worth pondering.

I am asking "what if". Such as, what if this story, which I have heard a million times, were interpreted through a different perspective. We can flush out the ethics of this story, but it has been done.

However, what else can we see from this story about said society? The questions and links to Christianity allow us to pursue connections with the modern world -- ourselves in Western society.

There are so many questions present in a text that I feel it is more interesting to explore different perspectives of the same story. It is not that the different perspectives of a story are better than the ethical and moral implications though new perspectives on literature usually get you published and allow you to earn a Phd or master degree (joke). I am, also, not asking us to disregard the story because it is an unlikely event. Heavens no. I want to know the connections this society has to the suffering because I did not see it expressed. I enjoy seeing the links people give. It, also, is connected to the ethics we, as a society, have when we can defend or see the links that suffering causes and the benefits that might arise.

So we have a society different form our own. This is interesting? What are the emotional effects on the individuals in this society regardless of the ethical issue of this child. What process allows these individuals to emotional continue.

The more questions the better, and with a story found in almost every first-year philosophy classroom, the more perspectives allows for a less boring discussion.

Remember, I called the people a cult -- clearly I have defined my view of the society as unethical.