Daydreaming Idly

“Which is worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man?”

This is the question posed at the end of the movie Shutter Island. I thought this line made the whole movie. Because it poses a moral question, and in answering it we answer something we believe to be true about life.

If delusion is the only way to escape the pain of facing the truth - the monstrosity, the personal affront of it - do you take it? In other words, which do you love more, your self or the truth? But why would anyone choose the truth?

If you believe that the basis for judging ethical matters is about (your own) individual human flourishing, you can’t make the case that refuge is the wrong choice. At least not without some contortion. If morality is fundamentally about reciprocity, about us as social animals, the answer changes. If others matter, face the truth and suffer. If only your individual consciousness matters, why not flee suffering into your own defensive, imaginative narrative?

This is pretty obvious and straightforward. I think if we were to take a poll of moral philosophers and everyday people both we would likely get most people answering that truth matters. But that’s not the interesting question posed by the movie. The question isn’t which would you choose. The question is this:

Which have you chosen, and how do you know?