Sexy man on a deserted beach?
Only ten more thought experiments to go! Unfortunately, this week's experiment is more of a question for Dear Abby than a deep philosophical issue, but that doesn't mean I can't offer more than her typical "sound, compassionate advice, delivered with the straightforward style of a good friend." Let's remind ourselves of the issue at hand.
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Scarlett could not believe her luck. For as long as she could remember, Brad Depp had been her heartthrob. Now, amazingly, she had stumbled across his secluded holiday home in the Bahamas, which not even the paparazzi knew about.
What is more, when Brad saw the solitary walker on the beach, he had offered her a drink, and as they talked he turned out to be as charming as she had imagined. And then he admitted that he had got a bit lonely these last few weeks, and although, because of his lifestyle, it would have to remain a secret, he would very much like it if she were to spend the night with him.
There was just one problem: Scarlett was married to a man she very much loved. But what you don't know can't hurt you, and he would never know. She would get a night of fantasy and Brad would get a little comfort. Everyone would be either as they were or richer for the experience. No one would suffer. With so much to gain and nothing to lose, what earthly reason could there be for Scarlett to resist Brad's fabulous come-to-bed eyes?
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 271.
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Okay, so we're talking about secret adultery here. Scarlett is no Hester Prynne so she won't have to wear a big red 'A' on her chest. But are there other problems we can see with her desires? This is a website about evolutionary philosophy and the fiction that it inspires, so let's consider the experiment using all three of those subjects.
1. Evolution
We humans are a "K-selection" species that has evolved to invest heavily in child rearing, as opposed to "r-selection" species which go for quantity over quality. Such K species "display traits associated with living at densities close to carrying capacity and typically are strong competitors in such crowded niches and invest more heavily in fewer offspring, each of which has a relatively high probability of surviving to adulthood." Although we've used our big brains, culture, and technology to push past the normal boundaries for carrying capacity, and contraception means sex is no longer just for reproduction, those are very recent events in evolutionary terms so we still carry a host of "side effects" from our evolutionary history. Among these is the fact that sexual intercourse floods our bodies and brains with chemicals that promote pair bonding. While I often argue for using rational thinking to redirect short-term biological urges towards behaviors that are beneficial in the long-term, we can't completely overcome our biological heritage so some basic emotional reactions will always remain. In this case, this is why jealousy and the taboo against adultery remains strong in societies around the world and why polyamory (usually described as ethical non-monogamy) is something that only seems to work in theory (as far as I know) for any extended population or stretch of time. Scarlett may rationally think she can have an intimate physical encounter with Brad without bringing any emotional baggage on board, but that's unlikely and so therefore something she needs to consider.
2. Philosophy
Making moral decisions requires consideration of the past, the present, and the future. Judgments are made about people's intentions, actions, and the consequences of those actions. In the field of philosophy, I see these three foci as distinct concerns of the three main camps of moral philosophers: virtue ethics, deontological ethics, and consequentialism/utilitarianism. In this thought experiment, Scarlett is arguing that her unvirtuous actions will remain a secret so they will have no consequences. How do I know the consensual sex between Scarlett and Brad is unvirtuous? Because in this case, Scarlett knows she has to hide it from her partner. So, even though the night of fantasy may not have direct consequences for her partner, the evolutionary heritage discussed above means that the intentions and actions will likely affect Scarlett directly (and then her partner indirectly). This is especially likely given that Scarlett knows that some part of her actions would be wrong and she will therefore be subject to feelings of guilt eventually. That brings me to the third part of my analysis.
3. Fiction
In my Response to Thought Experiment 75: The Ring of Gyges, I wrote about why people wouldn't all act horribly evil if they were granted the power of invisibility, which is very similar to the situation in this thought experiment where Scarlett's infidelity would be invisible to her partner. In that previous post, I mentioned Raskolnikov's inner turmoil in Crime and Punishment so let's look at a passage from that novel as a classic illustration of the fate that likely awaits Scarlett.
(As a brief setup, this passage comes soon after the main character, Raskolnikov, has murdered a mean old woman so he could take her money to pay off some debts and continue his virtuous work. Raskolnikov happens to get called to the police station for a trivial matter about those debts the day after the murder and he's questioned there by a lieutenant named Ilya Petrovich. Raskolnikov confesses to him about the trivial matter, but keeps the murder to himself. Barely.)
Raskolnikov fancied that after his confession the clerk had become more casual and contemptuous with him, but—strangely—he suddenly felt decidedly indifferent to anyone's possible opinion, and this change occurred somehow in a moment, an instant. If he had only cared to reflect a little, he would of course have been surprised that he could have spoken with them as he had a minute before, and even thrust his feelings upon them. And where had these feelings come from? On the contrary, if the room were now suddenly filled not with policemen but with his foremost friends, even then, he thought, he would be unable to find a single human word for them, so empty had his heart suddenly become. A dark sensation of tormenting, infinite solitude and estrangement suddenly rose to consciousness in his soul. It was not the abjectness of his heart's outpourings before Ilya Petrovich, nor the abjectness of the lieutenant's triumph over him, that suddenly overturned his heart. Oh, what did he care now about his own meanness, about all these vanities, lieutenants, German women, proceedings, offices, and so on and so forth! Even if he had been sentenced to be burned at that moment, he would not have stirred, and would probably not have listened very attentively to the sentence. What was taking place in him was totally unfamiliar, new, sudden, never before experienced. Not that he understood it, but he sensed clearly, with all the power of sensation, that it was no longer possible for him to address these people in the police station, not only with heartfelt effusions, as he had just done, but in any way at all, and had they been his own brothers and sisters, and not police lieutenants, there would still have been no point in addressing them, in whatever circumstances of life. Never until that minute had he experienced such a strange and terrible sensation. And most tormenting of all was that it was more a sensation than an awareness, an idea; a spontaneous sensation, the most tormenting of any he had yet experienced in his life. (Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Knopf Paperback edition , 1992, pp. 103-104.)
Although murder is (presumably) a far more affecting crime than adultery, this is the sort of reaction Scarlett would surely feel as a consequence of her going through with the tryst. If you've read my post on What's Causing These Emotions, you might remember that an important theory on this subject comes from cognitive psychology which says emotions are reactions to cognitive appraisals. Somewhere in his conscious or unconscious thinking, Raskolnikov knows he did wrong and so a "tormenting sensation" of guilt arises in him. Scarlett knows beforehand that an adulterous night would be wrong, so she too would be afflicted with this kind of torment. We've all seen sitcoms or movies where an adulterous partner confesses his or her actions to their ignorant partner, only to be told they acted selfishly to reduce their own pain and spread it to another. Now we see why. And hopefully can do better if we are ever tempted by someone on our laminated list...
What do you think? Are there any other reasons Scarlett shouldn't go through with it? Or maybe you think she should? Let me know in the comments below. Only a few opportunities left to do so!
--------------------------------------------------
Scarlett could not believe her luck. For as long as she could remember, Brad Depp had been her heartthrob. Now, amazingly, she had stumbled across his secluded holiday home in the Bahamas, which not even the paparazzi knew about.
What is more, when Brad saw the solitary walker on the beach, he had offered her a drink, and as they talked he turned out to be as charming as she had imagined. And then he admitted that he had got a bit lonely these last few weeks, and although, because of his lifestyle, it would have to remain a secret, he would very much like it if she were to spend the night with him.
There was just one problem: Scarlett was married to a man she very much loved. But what you don't know can't hurt you, and he would never know. She would get a night of fantasy and Brad would get a little comfort. Everyone would be either as they were or richer for the experience. No one would suffer. With so much to gain and nothing to lose, what earthly reason could there be for Scarlett to resist Brad's fabulous come-to-bed eyes?
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 271.
---------------------------------------------------
Okay, so we're talking about secret adultery here. Scarlett is no Hester Prynne so she won't have to wear a big red 'A' on her chest. But are there other problems we can see with her desires? This is a website about evolutionary philosophy and the fiction that it inspires, so let's consider the experiment using all three of those subjects.
1. Evolution
We humans are a "K-selection" species that has evolved to invest heavily in child rearing, as opposed to "r-selection" species which go for quantity over quality. Such K species "display traits associated with living at densities close to carrying capacity and typically are strong competitors in such crowded niches and invest more heavily in fewer offspring, each of which has a relatively high probability of surviving to adulthood." Although we've used our big brains, culture, and technology to push past the normal boundaries for carrying capacity, and contraception means sex is no longer just for reproduction, those are very recent events in evolutionary terms so we still carry a host of "side effects" from our evolutionary history. Among these is the fact that sexual intercourse floods our bodies and brains with chemicals that promote pair bonding. While I often argue for using rational thinking to redirect short-term biological urges towards behaviors that are beneficial in the long-term, we can't completely overcome our biological heritage so some basic emotional reactions will always remain. In this case, this is why jealousy and the taboo against adultery remains strong in societies around the world and why polyamory (usually described as ethical non-monogamy) is something that only seems to work in theory (as far as I know) for any extended population or stretch of time. Scarlett may rationally think she can have an intimate physical encounter with Brad without bringing any emotional baggage on board, but that's unlikely and so therefore something she needs to consider.
2. Philosophy
Making moral decisions requires consideration of the past, the present, and the future. Judgments are made about people's intentions, actions, and the consequences of those actions. In the field of philosophy, I see these three foci as distinct concerns of the three main camps of moral philosophers: virtue ethics, deontological ethics, and consequentialism/utilitarianism. In this thought experiment, Scarlett is arguing that her unvirtuous actions will remain a secret so they will have no consequences. How do I know the consensual sex between Scarlett and Brad is unvirtuous? Because in this case, Scarlett knows she has to hide it from her partner. So, even though the night of fantasy may not have direct consequences for her partner, the evolutionary heritage discussed above means that the intentions and actions will likely affect Scarlett directly (and then her partner indirectly). This is especially likely given that Scarlett knows that some part of her actions would be wrong and she will therefore be subject to feelings of guilt eventually. That brings me to the third part of my analysis.
3. Fiction
In my Response to Thought Experiment 75: The Ring of Gyges, I wrote about why people wouldn't all act horribly evil if they were granted the power of invisibility, which is very similar to the situation in this thought experiment where Scarlett's infidelity would be invisible to her partner. In that previous post, I mentioned Raskolnikov's inner turmoil in Crime and Punishment so let's look at a passage from that novel as a classic illustration of the fate that likely awaits Scarlett.
(As a brief setup, this passage comes soon after the main character, Raskolnikov, has murdered a mean old woman so he could take her money to pay off some debts and continue his virtuous work. Raskolnikov happens to get called to the police station for a trivial matter about those debts the day after the murder and he's questioned there by a lieutenant named Ilya Petrovich. Raskolnikov confesses to him about the trivial matter, but keeps the murder to himself. Barely.)
Raskolnikov fancied that after his confession the clerk had become more casual and contemptuous with him, but—strangely—he suddenly felt decidedly indifferent to anyone's possible opinion, and this change occurred somehow in a moment, an instant. If he had only cared to reflect a little, he would of course have been surprised that he could have spoken with them as he had a minute before, and even thrust his feelings upon them. And where had these feelings come from? On the contrary, if the room were now suddenly filled not with policemen but with his foremost friends, even then, he thought, he would be unable to find a single human word for them, so empty had his heart suddenly become. A dark sensation of tormenting, infinite solitude and estrangement suddenly rose to consciousness in his soul. It was not the abjectness of his heart's outpourings before Ilya Petrovich, nor the abjectness of the lieutenant's triumph over him, that suddenly overturned his heart. Oh, what did he care now about his own meanness, about all these vanities, lieutenants, German women, proceedings, offices, and so on and so forth! Even if he had been sentenced to be burned at that moment, he would not have stirred, and would probably not have listened very attentively to the sentence. What was taking place in him was totally unfamiliar, new, sudden, never before experienced. Not that he understood it, but he sensed clearly, with all the power of sensation, that it was no longer possible for him to address these people in the police station, not only with heartfelt effusions, as he had just done, but in any way at all, and had they been his own brothers and sisters, and not police lieutenants, there would still have been no point in addressing them, in whatever circumstances of life. Never until that minute had he experienced such a strange and terrible sensation. And most tormenting of all was that it was more a sensation than an awareness, an idea; a spontaneous sensation, the most tormenting of any he had yet experienced in his life. (Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Knopf Paperback edition , 1992, pp. 103-104.)
Although murder is (presumably) a far more affecting crime than adultery, this is the sort of reaction Scarlett would surely feel as a consequence of her going through with the tryst. If you've read my post on What's Causing These Emotions, you might remember that an important theory on this subject comes from cognitive psychology which says emotions are reactions to cognitive appraisals. Somewhere in his conscious or unconscious thinking, Raskolnikov knows he did wrong and so a "tormenting sensation" of guilt arises in him. Scarlett knows beforehand that an adulterous night would be wrong, so she too would be afflicted with this kind of torment. We've all seen sitcoms or movies where an adulterous partner confesses his or her actions to their ignorant partner, only to be told they acted selfishly to reduce their own pain and spread it to another. Now we see why. And hopefully can do better if we are ever tempted by someone on our laminated list...
What do you think? Are there any other reasons Scarlett shouldn't go through with it? Or maybe you think she should? Let me know in the comments below. Only a few opportunities left to do so!
