Day 160: Full Bowls, Mixed Motives
After an ethics lesson at a secondary school in Bochnia, a seventeen-year-old student (A) asks his ethics teacher (B) to settle an argument about the fundraiser he ran for an animal shelter.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a Polish word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Polish, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Panie profesorze, Kaja twierdzi, 偶e moja zbi贸rka dla schroniska si臋 nie liczy, bo robi艂em j膮 dla lajk贸w.
Sir, Kaja says my fundraiser for the shelter doesn't count, because I did it for the likes.
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B
Widzia艂em te filmiki. Powiedz szczerze: robi艂e艣 to dla ps贸w czy dla obserwuj膮cych?
I've seen those videos. Tell me honestly: were you doing it for the dogs or for the followers?
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A
Szczerze m贸wi膮c, jedno i drugie. Ale karma za trzy tysi膮ce z艂otych zosta艂a ju偶 zawieziona do schroniska.
Honestly, a bit of both. But three thousand z艂oty's worth of dog food has already been delivered to the shelter.
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B
Kant przyzna艂by racj臋 Kai. Opisa艂 kupca, kt贸ry nie oszukuje nawet dzieci, bo uczciwo艣膰 mu si臋 op艂aca: post臋puje zgodnie z obowi膮zkiem, cho膰 nie z obowi膮zku.
Kant would side with Kaja. He described a shopkeeper who doesn't cheat even children, because honesty pays: he acts in accordance with duty, though not from duty.
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A
Czyli moja zbi贸rka nie ma 偶adnej warto艣ci moralnej, mimo 偶e psy maj膮 co je艣膰 a偶 do wiosny?
So my fundraiser has no moral worth at all, even though the dogs have enough to eat until spring?
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B
Na pocieszenie masz Milla: kto ratuje ton膮cego, post臋puje s艂usznie, czy robi to z obowi膮zku, czy w nadziei na zap艂at臋.
As a consolation, you've got Mill: whoever saves someone from drowning does the right thing, whether they do it out of duty or in the hope of being paid.
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A
No to zostaj臋 utylitaryst膮. Kaja niech sobie czyta Kanta.
Then I'm a utilitarian from now on. Kaja can go and read Kant.
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B
Mill zaznaczy艂 jednak, 偶e motyw wiele m贸wi o samym cz艂owieku. Dlatego ciekawi mnie, czemu na ka偶dym filmiku by艂a Ida z drugiej b.
Mill did point out, though, that the motive says a lot about the person. Which makes me wonder why Ida from 2b was in every single video.
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A
Dobra, przyznaj臋 si臋, cho膰 Mill by mnie uniewinni艂: psy s膮 najedzone, a Ida nawet nie zauwa偶y艂a, 偶e to wszystko dla niej.
Fine, I confess, though Mill would acquit me: the dogs are well fed, and Ida didn't even notice it was all for her.
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