{"id":984,"date":"2011-11-14T12:13:58","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T17:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=984"},"modified":"2012-11-23T00:26:24","modified_gmt":"2012-11-23T05:26:24","slug":"harry-potter-spoilers-and-ethical-quandaries-in-this-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/11\/harry-potter-spoilers-and-ethical-quandaries-in-this-post.html","title":{"rendered":"Harry Potter Spoilers and Ethical Quandaries in this Post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to expand the discussion on taking on the burden of someone else\u2019s sin that was taking place in one of the foolish virgins threads<\/a>. \u00a0The example I\u2019m using is the major spoiler from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince<\/em>, so if you haven\u2019t read it, don\u2019t already know, and don\u2019t want to, I\u2019m sorry to say you should skip the post. \u00a0(That\u2019s what you get for not going to the midnight release). \u00a0Spoilers ahoy!<\/p>\n

Ok, so everyone who\u2019s still here knows exactly what I\u2019m talking about: the moment where Snape kills Dumbledore. \u00a0I\u2019m going to leave the practical concerns of wandlore out of this discussion since it\u2019s mostly irrelevant (and was mostly ridiculous). \u00a0On the top of the Astronomy Tower, Snape kills Dumbledore, as he had promised, to save Draco. \u00a0In the book, it is not completely clear whether Snape is meant only to save Draco from Voldemort\u2019s punishment if he fails or whether he is meant to keep Draco from becoming a murderer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Throwing yourself between someone and physical harm is admirable. \u00a0Risking your soul to\u00a0shield\u00a0someone from moral harm?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Commenters seemed split on this could be an acceptable cause for action; whether Snape could justifiably do something bad to keep someone else from wounding their soul. \u00a0I was surprised by this reaction, because there\u2019s a strong norm of self-sacrifice when all that\u2019s being sacrificed is the physical. \u00a0Even if we don\u2019t demand that parents be willing to take a bullet for their children, that tends to be what our ideal parent or lover would do. \u00a0In 1984<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0wishing that you could push your suffering off onto a loved one is\u00a0the supreme act of betrayal\u2013not just of the beloved, but also of the self.<\/p>\n

But the moral calculus shifts when the cost is mutilating the soul, rather than the body. \u00a0It\u2019s strange. \u00a0If we thought the moral sacrifice was much more serious, wouldn\u2019t we praise it even more than a physical sacrifice? \u00a0The fact that most of you disagree makes me think we\u2019re not putting these two kinds of sacrifice on the same spectrum.<\/p>\n

Why is that? \u00a0I\u2019ll be delighted if it turns out you\u2019re all virtue ethicist, crypto-gnostics like me (ok, so I\u2019m not all that crypto), but since many of you have taken issue with both those schools of thought, I\u2019d like you to tell me what\u2019s backstopping your moral intuition. \u00a0Why should we want to accept the physical harm done to others, but not take on the moral dangers to spare them? \u00a0Do you want to change your answer to the original question about whether we should praise people for accepting the physical harm meant for others? Is all damage fungible, and, if not, where should it be directed?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019d like to expand the discussion on taking on the burden of someone else\u2019s sin that was taking place in one of the foolish virgins threads. \u00a0The example I\u2019m using is the major spoiler from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, so if you haven\u2019t read it, don\u2019t already know, and don\u2019t want to, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[46,43],"class_list":["post-984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-morality-in-practice","tag-sacrifice","tag-sin-eatersdirty-hands"],"yoast_head":"\nHarry Potter Spoilers and Ethical Quandaries in this Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'd like to expand the discussion on taking on the burden of someone else's sin that was taking place in one of the foolish virgins threads. \u00a0The example\" 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