I'm just now making my way through the Vorkosigan series for the first time, and I finished BOA a couple of weeks ago. It's one of my favorites so far: the dialogue is witty and somewhat thought-provoking, and the character of Duv Galeni is compelling. (Please tell me: does he ever show up again?) And that fast-penta scene is laugh-out-loud funny.
To me, the persons-vs.-principles dichotomy seems, ultimately, false. The best principles exist to guide us in how to treat persons; when we violate one of our principles because it would result in injustice or unkindness, we can usually examine our beliefs and find some other principle that superseded the one we violated. (A mentor of my husband's liked to stress that everybody *has* a philosophy, even if they don't realize they have one).
As for the tension between circumstances and choice, *there's* a tangle It seems the theme here is that we can never escape what we've inherited through family, biology, ethnicity, etc.; we can only choose how we react when these things come knocking on our door. I'm gald there was no pat answer here, since most of us spend most of our lives trying to work this one out.
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momijizukamori and
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Date: 2006-09-03 08:22 pm (UTC)To me, the persons-vs.-principles dichotomy seems, ultimately, false. The best principles exist to guide us in how to treat persons; when we violate one of our principles because it would result in injustice or unkindness, we can usually examine our beliefs and find some other principle that superseded the one we violated. (A mentor of my husband's liked to stress that everybody *has* a philosophy, even if they don't realize they have one).
As for the tension between circumstances and choice, *there's* a tangle It seems the theme here is that we can never escape what we've inherited through family, biology, ethnicity, etc.; we can only choose how we react when these things come knocking on our door. I'm gald there was no pat answer here, since most of us spend most of our lives trying to work this one out.
mess!