The Sunflower is a book about the parameters required to forgive someone. In the book, the main character, Simon, is asked to forgive Karl an SS soldier who was part of a massacre of Jews. In the book, Simon is confronted with many different questions about forgiveness such as is it his place to forgive Karl? does Karl deserve forgiveness? is it enough that he feels remorse or does share the burden and legacy of all Nazis. I would forgive Karl because the benefits of forgiving Karl outweigh the benefits of not forgiving him.
Hedonism is a branch of consequentialism that states that morality of a situation should be determined by the net gain in happiness that that action creates. (Andrew, 1) in this situation is defined as the …show more content…
Karl gains the satisfaction of thinking, however naïve he might be, that the entire Jewish population feels that he is not completely accountable for the horrendous crime that he had committed and that he has been forgiven for his part in said crime. He has a happy death and dies. However, Simon may not be as satisfied with this decision then Karl is. In the Sunflower (), Simon wrestles with this idea asking his friend Josek for his opinion. Josek replies that Simon has no place in forgiving Karl on the behalf of all Jews. While it was wrong for Karl to misrepresent all Jews by asking Simons and considering it forgiveness from everybody in that community, he didn’t have many options. It was either this or die alone with all his sins weighing on him. However, some might say it was inappropriate to ask for forgiveness from a people who have struggled so much from the group that Karl is apart all so that he may have the personal satisfaction of dying happy. While this reasoning is true, the problem is that it doesn’t matter if he’s being selfish because he’s about to die. He will receive his punishment in being in eternal darkness forever regardless of what Simon or the entire Jewish community says. The only thing that matters here is that he should be happy as he slips away
Hedonism is a branch of consequentialism that states that morality of a situation should be determined by the net gain in happiness that that action creates. (Andrew, 1) in this situation is defined as the …show more content…
Karl gains the satisfaction of thinking, however naïve he might be, that the entire Jewish population feels that he is not completely accountable for the horrendous crime that he had committed and that he has been forgiven for his part in said crime. He has a happy death and dies. However, Simon may not be as satisfied with this decision then Karl is. In the Sunflower (), Simon wrestles with this idea asking his friend Josek for his opinion. Josek replies that Simon has no place in forgiving Karl on the behalf of all Jews. While it was wrong for Karl to misrepresent all Jews by asking Simons and considering it forgiveness from everybody in that community, he didn’t have many options. It was either this or die alone with all his sins weighing on him. However, some might say it was inappropriate to ask for forgiveness from a people who have struggled so much from the group that Karl is apart all so that he may have the personal satisfaction of dying happy. While this reasoning is true, the problem is that it doesn’t matter if he’s being selfish because he’s about to die. He will receive his punishment in being in eternal darkness forever regardless of what Simon or the entire Jewish community says. The only thing that matters here is that he should be happy as he slips away