Aristotelian Ethics In Star Trek

In the movie, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Spock best exemplifies Aristotelian ethics. A logical alien from the planet Vulcan, Spock displays a perfect balance of the virtues proposed by Aristotle as he seems to have reached the golden mean in all facets of the scales and whose telos is logic and reason and his pursuit of the logical decisions guides his choices. Spock’s ethical mastery is displayed in the opening scenes of the movie as he prepares to risk his life to save the native inhabitants of an alien planet and comply with the prime directive. As Captain Kirk debates with Spock over whether or not they should save him, Spock makes a claim reflecting the Aristotelian virtuous ideals of magnanimity and courage, both of which are the golden

This category is honesty(vice), in which Spock displays an excess of honesty as a result of his heritage stating that “Vulcans cannot lie.” This is seen in Spock’s inability to lie in his mission report, resulting in Kirk being released from command for not obeying the prime directive. Following this incident Spock begins to try and correct this using the bent stick remedy. This effort to self correct is shown in the battle scene between the Enterprise and The USS Vengeance as Spock deceives Khan by tricking him into thinking his crew, hidden in the torpedoes, are his to take. Spock declares, “the torpedoes are yours,” reminding Khan that a Vulcan cannot lie. Khan beams the torpedoes up and realizes that Spock has had the crewmembers removed and the torpedoes armed, blowing up the ship. This omission of truth lands on the opposite scale of honesty and by lying he is able to self-correct and reach a happy medium of

Scotty emulates the virtuous character as he shows in his refusal to sign off on the missiles, knowing that their use could cause everyone on the ship to be killed. It would benefit Scotty to make the right decision so it therefor is in line with his appetite and he shows he is able to differentiate between the right and wrong choice. Therefore, since Scott does make the right choice he represents the virtuous character. Admiral Marcus represents the character type of incontinent, as his appetite is to start a war, which is not in line with reason. He also shows that he can reason right from wrong as he tries to trick Kirk into starting the war because he know it will be seen as wrong by the public and the people at Starfleet. He chooses to try and start the war despite reason, displaying him as the incontinent