For the most part we human beings empathize with Sophie’s dilemma, we feel that a choice is necessary. With a bit of reflection we will also come to realize that without a firm basis for choice, Sophie (and we) might as well flip a coin. What fuels our decision to choose – Emotion. The lack of an emotional preference for one option over other options is what triggers the coin flip. Because our choice was/is rooted in emotion we tend to be unable to fully explain the rationale for our choice – How many of us have said, ‘I’m not sure why I chose to do it’ ?
Although we humans are feeling beings we don’t just have an emotion. Something in our brain must recognize – immediately or after the fact – that the situation is ‘emotion-worthy.’ For example, once Sophie decides to choose, her choice engenders a feeling of guilt. Why guilt? Well, for one thing, guilt represents one emotive response to a social transgression – a violation of a cultural/social norm.
Did Sophie transgress? Was her decision to choose morally permissible or was it morally reprehensible? If Sophie had never felt guilty would we think less or more of her – how would we judge her? I first read ‘Sophie’s Choice’ in 1980 and my response to her has taken a number of forms. Currently, my thinking is that Sophie’s act was permissible, perhaps even obligatory, given her choice between two dead children and one. Yet, I empathize with Sophie and I can feel her guilt (which taps into my own parental-guilt). I return to the question: Why Guilt?
Once I choose and then enact my choice I quickly – and almost sub-consciously – engage in an intellectual analysis: Who did what to whom, why, and with what means and ends? This analysis occurs quickly and often immediately (‘My God, look at what I have done!’ is a response many of us are familiar with). This analysis precedes our emotional response.
Understanding this process is one key to explaining and understanding why Sophie felt guilty even though she did not do wrong (my current belief). Being forced to act on a choice may trigger the same kind of angst as when a choice is made voluntarily. The subsequent emotion experienced follows from an unconscious analysis of the causes and consequences of ‘choice-action.’ Only by stifling our moral faculty are we human beings able to choose-act as Sophie did AND not experience a powerful emotional response. Ironically, Sophie’s emotive guilt response was an affirmation that her moral faculties were intact.
As human beings each of us will encounter ‘harm-harm dilemmas.’ If we cannot dissolve them we will be forced to choose and as a result of our choice ‘harm will occur.’ This is, to put it mildly, an unsettling idea. Given this, it is no wonder that we humans find it challenging to choose to be unconditionally response-able, responsible and accountable. No wonder a common escape mantra for we humans continues to be: ‘I was only following orders!’
Searcher-Seeker 
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