In class we talked about the hawks and the lambs, ultimately we determined that it doesn't make sense for us to expect the strong not to express their strength and it is equally bizarre for the weak to try to express their weakness and strength.
One question that I had was whether or not people are born strong or weak? Here is an example: Let's say that someone is born with a terminal illness and told they will only live 10 years. This person then choices to make the most out of life: she/he smiles in the face of adversity, still chooses to play sports, expresses traits like kindness and patience. Would this person be considered strong or weak? Yes, we would like to say weak because sickness is a form of weakness but she also expresses forms of strength. How then do you balance these two and determine on which side the scale tips? Is there some form of calculus to determine this like the felicific calculus used by utilitarians?
Another example stems from our decisions that some people are born strong and some born weak. I believe as a class we would all agree that babies are weak by nature. If they are not feed or taken care of, then they will die. So for the infant that dies, do we generically say that this child was too weak to survive?
I would love comments, I am curious how the class interpreted the reading.
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