Love, Fear, Aristotle, and Yoda

       In life, is it best to be ruled by fear or love?  Because of the negativity associated with fear, one would typically answer, love. As so eloquently stated by Rip Torn in Defending Your Life “Fear is like a giant fog. It sits on your brain and blocks everything. “ (Defending Your Life - Big Brain) However, love can be just as overpowering.   As seen in Troy, prince Paris is consumed by his love for Helen, the queen of Sparta, and steals her away. This causes Menelaus, King of Sparta, to seek revenge and wage war on Troy, which results in the death of thousands (Synopsis for Troy).  Overwhelming fear or love clouds judgment and leads to poor decisions.  

       Life usually isn’t as simple as defining a person or their actions into a category of only love or only fear. As seen in Donnie Darko, Donnie is troubled by this and tries to explain to his teacher that life isn’t as simple as love and fear.  The teacher on the other hand, explains that love and fear are the two most basic of human emotions, and therefore any situation can be broken down in this manner (Fear vs. Love). It would seem that Donnie has a view similar of the Aristotelian notion of the golden mean.  The golden mean is a way of life in which one finds, and attempts to live within, the mean between deficit and abundance (Murdarasi)The problem in applying the golden mean to real-life situations, comes from the question, where does the mean lie? It is closer to deficit or abundance?  In this case, fear represents deficit in that fear is often associated with negativity, and love represents abundance.

       Looking at more dynamic characters, such as Harry Potter and his rival, Voldemort we see that they both build their personal identity within the bounds the golden mean.   These are important characters to compare because they have similar backgrounds. Both are half bloods who were orphaned at a young age and who grew up in unloving homes. However, their personal ideals are very different. Harry has ideals closer to the side of love.  Time after time, Harry loves his friends and protects his friends. While he is terrified of Volemort, he doesn’t let that fear overpower him in his mission.  Voldemort’s ideals lie closer to the fear border. He loved his newfound home at Hogwarts, but feared leaving that home but death beyond anything, which hardened his heart. He has love, but it is false, loving only things that protect him from death and not embracing anyone.  Voledmort is similar to the Anakin Skywalker character in Star Wars. In Episode III he has a loving wife, but falls down the path of the dark side when he lets his fear take over. As Yoda predicted, fear led to anger, anger led to hate, and hate led to suffering (Lucas).

       In conclusion, to succeed, one must find their identity on the golden mean closer to that of the loving side, but not to the point of complete infatuation. Looking at the philosophical views of film, it is important to find your own personal identity based on the golden mean. However, life isn’t static.  It’s always possible to redefine the boundaries to which your golden mean is based, and to steer your identity to what you believe the mean is.

Works Cited

Defending Your Life - Big Brain. Feb 2008. May 2012 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF897aNyxSs >.

Fear vs. Love. Sep 2006. 5 May 2012 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q38N9QvsdzU >.

Murdarasi, Karen. Aristotle's Golden Mean. June 2008. 6 May 2012 <http://karenmurdarasi.suite101.com/aristotles-golden-mean-a56759 >.

Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Dir. George Lucas. 2005.

Synopsis for Troy. Feb 2012. 5 May 2012 <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332452/synopsis>.

films that include philosophical themes worth exploring

1) Donnie Darko for epistemology. It is about a troubled teenager who is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after narrowly escaping a bizarre accident.

2) The Black Swan for personal identity and  essence of evil. It is about a ballet dancer who wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan.

Abstract: What is an Ethical Superhero? by Travis Cannady and Zach Taylor

It can easily be said that superheroes in today’s movies do good for society. People with extra ordinary abilities fighting evil is good that can’t be argued with, but the ethics behind the actions taken by these heroes can be. The ethics of the major superheroes in movies today was evaluated against the philosophy of Kantianism and utilitarianism. Through this study it was be determined what code of ethics these superheroes uphold, whether it is Kant’s categorical imperative or the utilitarian view of the greatest good for the greatest number. This was done by narrowing the superheroes to the movies of the last decade and sticking with only the major heroes of the Marvel and DC universe, excluding the X-men, Hulk, and Fantastic 4. Basing the information on what the movie displays of the hero (no comic book or TV show knowledge), their actions were determined to be either utilitarian or Kantian. It was revealed through this study that the only true Kantian superhero was Superman. While Batman practices the same philosophy, when pushed to complete desperation in The Dark Knight, he commits actions he even considers unethical. Spiderman also practices Kantianism until Spiderman 3 when he is consumed by the black spidey suit and attempts to kill. The study shows that Ironman, Captain America, and Thor are all utilitarian because they all have killed.

Movies worth exploring

A couple movies worth exploring philosophically would be Finding Nemo and The Fugitive.  Finding Nemo delves into how personal identity changes when people, or fish, are put into new or difficult situations. The Fugitive would be interesting to watch for the changing in ethics in the main character. Originally, he's a doctor but is accused of killing his wife. He escapes from prison to solve the mystery of who actually killed her and to clear his name. However, along the way he makes some questionable decisions. Are they worth it? Do the ends justify the means? It would make for an  interesting look.

Aristotle's Golden Mean bumper sticker

Aristotle's  Golden Mean

The golden mean delves into finding a middle of the road approach to life. However, that middle of the road can be closer to one side or the other, depending on how the user of the mean defines it.

Bumper sticker ideas...

You can't handle the truth!

Think hard, not smart.

Confused? Good.
Frustrated? Excellent.
Enlightened? Drat!

Determinism, Libertarianism, Compatibilism, and a… Minority Report Abstract

 

Jeff Fenchel, James Hopper, and Brandon Smith

      Minority Report provides a unique perspective on the debate of determinism vs freewill. In the opening scene of Minority Report, John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is investigating a murder that has yet to happen. This is made possible by “precogs” human beings who have the ability to see into the future. Because of this ability, John is able to stop the murder before it happens. In addition, the would-be murderer is arrested for the “future crime” of murdering his wife, an even that never actually took place. Obviously the criminal justice system of John’s time views the world in a deterministic fashion because they are willing to convict people on actions they were predicted to carry out. However, the criminal justice systems actions prevent their prediction from occurring, thus undermining the deterministic view of the world upon which the systems laws are based.  You could go as far as to argue that law enforcement is embracing a libertarian concept by taking free action to change the future based on predictions that can no longer occur if they are successful. The concepts of Libertarianism and Determinism are extreme cases of the conflict between free will and fate. A proposed middle ground, Compatibilism, offers a combination of deterministic and libertarian methodologies by categorizing events as the consequence of free will or determinism on a case by case basis.

       In addition to reviewing the three concepts of Determinism, Libertarianism, and Compatibilism we will also attempt to relate these to social interaction. It is our intention that relating these concepts to real world experiences will help illuminate the need to explore these concepts interpersonally and provide a greater understanding of human to human interaction.