Ethical Dilemma
The story Sophie’s Choice is about life experiences of a Polish immigrant named Sophie Zawistowski living in New York. The story moves between past and present and reveals a dark secret of Sophie’s life. It is revealed that during the Holocaust, Sophie faced a daunting challenge that forced her to save the life of one of her children at the expense of the other. When the Nazi officer asks Sophie to choose one of her children or lose both of them, she is forced to make a decision and choose one of her children.
Sophie had to make a choice between her son and her daughter, knowing that the other child would be sent to the death camp. Sophie’s chooses to save her son’s life, and this ethical dilemma is presented in the story by William Styron. The dilemma for Sophie at that moment is to choose one child, but whatever choice is makes she knows that she is failing in her role as a mother. The choice made by Sophie during the Holocaust haunts her and makes her question her judgement. Even though the years pass, the choice leaves Sophie broken from inside as she has no idea if the son she saved is alive (Styron, 2004).
Ethical Theories
Utilitarianism
One of the ethical theories that can be related to Sophie’s Choice is Utilitarianism. According to the theory, “whether an action is morally right or wrong depends entirely on its consequences. An action is right if it brings about the best outcome of the choices available. Otherwise it is wrong” (California State University, n.d.). Sophie’s decision of picking her son over her daughter, in her eyes was the right action at that point. Her way of thinking and making the choice is unclear, but it seems clear that she made the choice that she believed was the best consequence.
At that point of time, Sophie had to make the choice as she had to choose one or she would have lost both of them. Choosing one child is the best consequence of the situation as cannot afford to lose both of them. Although, over time she questioned her judgement, but at that point of time Sophie believed it was the best outcome of the situation. Utilitarianism has been called a type of consequentialism and consequentialists claim that behaviour that is right when it maximizes the good (California State University, n.d.).
In the situation Sophie found herself, the maximization of good was only possible if she made the choice. Even though the choice challenged her, it was essential to save one child at least. Therefore, Sophie managed to achieve the best consequence from the situation; she saved her son’s life from Nazis, even though it came at the cost of her daughter’s life. The maximization of pleasure and minimization of pain is an essential aspect of utilitarianism. By making the choice, Sophie maximized her pleasure of at least saving her son and minimized the pain of losing both her children.
Ethical Egoism
Ethical egoism has been explained as, “the prescriptive doctrine that all persons ought to act from their own self-interest” (Lander University, 2009). Sophie is told that she needs to choose one or lose both her children. It leaves her no choice but to act and save one, or see both her children die at the hands of the rampant Nazi Army. Self-interest is exactly what forces Sophie to save her son from the Nazis. Therefore, she practices ethical egoism when she decides to save his son from the death camp. Personal interest forces her to make the decision as she could not imagine losing both her children; she makes the unthinkable decision of letting her daughter die at the hands of the Nazis.
Under the ethical egoism theory, morality is based on achieving the greatest good for the greatest number of people. By saving her son, Sophie achieves greater good for herself and her son, making her decision moral. Ethical egoism also construes that morality is based on an individual making choices based on self-interest. Therefore, Sophie’s decision is nothing more than her morality that is guiding her to save her son as her self-interest. Ethical egoism also claims that by avoiding taking care of personal interest, an individual can be classified as immoral (Kay, 1997). Therefore, it would have been immoral to not choose her son or fighting for both her children as it would have not saved anyone.
Ethical Perspectives
Moral Reasoning
Moral reasoning is described as a thinking process to determine whether a thought is justified or not. To analyse the justification of the thought one needs to understand the goal need to be accomplished through a particular behaviour (SUNY, n.d.). Therefore, Sophie’s idea of giving away her daughter to the Nazis for saving her son is morally correct as it accomplished the goal of saving her son. Her action justifies her decision and gives it moral reasoning as the goal of the action was achieved instantaneously. The thought would have lacked moral reasoning if her objective of taking the decision was not achieved.
According to Kohlberg, Moral reasoning is understood as, “the reasoning used to defend his or her position when faced with a moral dilemma” (SUNY, n.d.). In the story, the moral dilemma in Sophie’s life came during Holocaust as she was forced by the Nazis to take a heartbreaking decision. Despite knowing that she had sent her daughter to her death, Sophie found solace in the fact that she managed to save her son from the Nazi death camp. She managed to overcome her moral dilemma as she could have lost both her children, but even when facing the adversity and death she managed to wrestle her son out of a death trap. Therefore, moral reasoning can be applied to the Sophie’s choice as she could justify her decision while facing the moral dilemma.
Conclusion
The ethical dilemma is one of the most important aspects of Sophie’s Choice, as the central character named Sophie is forced to choose one of her children and let the other one die. This ethical dilemma forces her to let her daughter die, as the other option she is to let both her children die at the hands of the Nazis at the death camps. The story can be related to the ethical theories of utilitarianism and ethical egoism as the central character achieves the best possible consequence out of the situation and takes care of self-interest. Also, the story can be related to moral reasoning as Sophie accomplishes her goal of saving at least one of her children.
References
California State University. (n.d.). Utilitarianism. Retrieved 11 June 2016 from, http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/ethics/utilitarianism%20notes.htm
Kay., C.D. (1997). Varieties of Egoism. Retrieved 11 July 2016 from, http://sites.wofford.edu/kaycd/egoism/
Lander University. (2009). Philosophy 302: Ethics. Retrieved 11 July 2016 from, http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/ethical_ego.html
Styron, W. (2004). Sophie's choice. London, UK: Random House Vintage.
SUNY. (n.d.). Kohlberg's ideas of Moral Reasoning. Retrieved 11 July 2016 from, http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/KOHL/kidmoral.HTML
