If the mouse were to reason to itself, I am doomed. What use is struggling, I shall present my neck to the cat, so it can end me with minimal fuss. I would call that a pathetic mouse. And if the mouse ran and struggled, and scratched and bit, and hung onto every scrap of life it could get, I would call it a brave little mouse.
You call it an aesthetic choice, but it comes across as a moral one nonetheless, since “pathetic” and “brave” are judgment of character, not description of degree of beauty. You also use the words like “worthy”. You are definitely entitled to your view of ethics, just like your hedge fund friend is entitled to theirs. Not sure why you feel the urge to disguise your ethics as aesthetics.
That said, both yours and your friend’s ethics make sense and are perfectly compatible, given that you are convinced there is a chance of survival and he is convinced that there is not. If you want to crux it with the him, then the first step is to go through the possible worlds that lead him to conclude that there is no path to survival he can affect (and effect) and lead you to conclude that there is. Or maybe it is an ethical difference, his hedonistic approach and your “go out fighting” one.
You call it an aesthetic choice, but it comes across as a moral one nonetheless, since “pathetic” and “brave” are judgment of character, not description of degree of beauty. You also use the words like “worthy”. You are definitely entitled to your view of ethics, just like your hedge fund friend is entitled to theirs. Not sure why you feel the urge to disguise your ethics as aesthetics.
That said, both yours and your friend’s ethics make sense and are perfectly compatible, given that you are convinced there is a chance of survival and he is convinced that there is not. If you want to crux it with the him, then the first step is to go through the possible worlds that lead him to conclude that there is no path to survival he can affect (and effect) and lead you to conclude that there is. Or maybe it is an ethical difference, his hedonistic approach and your “go out fighting” one.