![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
"a radical question"
Feb. 21st, 2005 01:28 pmAs I seem to be losing a battle with the icky flu that has waylaid a significant percentage of my students, I will simply say hello and offer, as intellectual "comfort food," a quote for the day from a much-beloved book:
"May I ask this? Under what circumstances is it moral for a group to do that which is not moral for a member of that group to do alone?"
"Uh... that's a trick question."
"It is the key question, dear Wyoming. A radical question that strikes to the root of the whole dilemma of government. Anyone who answers honestly and abides by all consequences knows where he stands -- and what he will die for.... I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do."
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein
"May I ask this? Under what circumstances is it moral for a group to do that which is not moral for a member of that group to do alone?"
"Uh... that's a trick question."
"It is the key question, dear Wyoming. A radical question that strikes to the root of the whole dilemma of government. Anyone who answers honestly and abides by all consequences knows where he stands -- and what he will die for.... I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do."
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein