Supporter
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2019
- Messages
- 143
Lying or omitting the truth would have been immoral as well, especially if it was to protect himself. The only correct answer was to never have joined the war, which is impossible to undo at this point.
What about omitting the truth to protect her? He knows the slave-girl is insanely protective of him. He knows that if the village girl takes his confession badly the slave might kill her. But she deserves the chance to move on. "Hey, I was a soldier in the army. I was at the battle where your brother died. I'm sorry for your loss and I will do what I can to help you, but you need to get out of this village, because it's not safe." The way he told the truth here is the worst possible way to go about it.
Knowing the slave girl's tendencies, he needed to talk to her outside of the hearing of this village girl, confirm what he's about to do, then ask for the village girl's forgiveness. That would be the moral/honorable thing to do in this situation. Not just blurting out the truth, come what may. The way he went about things is how you get made fun of by utilitarians for being an inflexible Kantist.