Moral Question

[sandmantv]

Reading the last by Naomi Novik, it occurs to me that the Temeraire series contains a morally weighty action that I don't know which course I approve of. And I've never discussed it with my friends either.

I speak of Laurence's decision regarding the Continental dragons.

For those who don’t mind spoilers, an explanation is below the cut.

Comments

[little_e_]

Well, I'm with you on morally questionability of killing in resistance, but that aside, I guess it comes down to willingness to use biological agents in warfare, willingness to risk infecting non-combatants (I assume), a cost-benefit analysis of their dragons killed vs. your dragons and humans killed, and perhaps a moral stance that certain methods of killing people are more moral than others or have fewer negative externalities. That is, I could see saying that nukes are no different practically from just dropping a bunch of regular bombs at once (see: firebombing of Tokyo,) and still think that nuclear war is a really, really bad idea. Likewise, folks infecting each other's armies with bio-weapons might have some really nasty long-term side effects, like folks infecting your army with bio-weapons. Or your cities. Or, you might say that killing each other in open combat where the other guy has a chance to defend theirself is honorable, but that sneaking in and giving them all some disease they can't even fight is just dirty. The

[dr_whom]

If you could state above the cut which books in the series are spoiled by your discussion, I'd appreciate it; I'm partway through the series.

[picklepikkl]

Through the end of Empire of Ivory.

[novalis]

I don't think 100% of dragons were combatants -- many were used for breeding, for instance. So inaction here doesn't seem any different to me than e.g. strategic bombing (except in the action vs inaction sense).

Also, treating medicine as a military secret sets a very bad precedent which will surely lead to more deaths down the line. Even a soldier can be a little utilitarian from time to time.

[picklepikkl]

This is something we were discussing briefly last weekend in NYC - did word of that leak to you, or is this just parallel development

[boojum42]

I get the impression that Laurence's objection was in large part a matter of scale. He thinks that most, if not all, Continental dragons would be killed by this disease-- that not sharing the cure would be tantamount to genocide. (I'll admit that the "biological warfare is fighting dirty" and "this could also spread to other dragons in neutral countries" aspects may well have figured into it.)
Also, I maybe am misremembering, but I think the reason why the English dragons were only weakened, not killed, was BECAUSE they found a cure? (Super convenient African mushrooms.)

I suppose plan "wait six months" might well work in the sense of not killing ALL French dragons, only some. But that would give the disease a lot of time to spread.