The Batman versus The Joker, your typical good versus evil, a conflict that has long held humanity’s interest. It raises the question, though, of what defines goodness and what makes something evil. Often the differentiation is based on morals, which prove to be the subject of discussion for philosophers when they’re going over ethics. This differentiation is also what can be given credit for why good versus evil is so compelling, in media the line between good and evil is often blurred in some places, requiring the viewer to make their own judgement on the ethics of characters, their actions, and their motivations. Depending on the ethics of the viewer characters can be judged on different criteria, for some it is only the intention of the character that matters and the result is superfluous, to the contrary some base the goodness of a character solely on the results of their actions and give little to no thought to the motivation behind said actions. Perhaps the most interesting of the viewers would give no comment at all, them being incapable of deeming a character moral or immoral, good or evil, because in their opinion no such thing as good or evil exists.
Above mentioned is the criterion of Kant, Utilitarians, and the nihilists, respectively. Of course those are a bit simplified, and the ethics of two of these groups will be explored in more detail throughout the course of this essay. The utilitarians and the nihilists shall be the main focus seeing as they most closely relate to the ethics of The Batman and The Joker.
Let us begin on Utilitarianism, or The Batman as the case may be. Utilitarianism functions primarily on the principle of utility, an idea proposed by the founder of utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham. “By the ...
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...ecause it makes much more sense that we exist in a world where the latter is nonexistent.
So, in the sense of who’s in the right – in the right of course referring to the legitimacy of their philosophy – in the battle between The Batman and The Joker, when one takes a look at the facts, The Joker, and ultimate Nihilism, comes out on top.
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Although Batman is the hero of many stories and films, many argue whether Batman actually needs to exist or if his moral code of “no killing” is actually worth it when his
The Utilitarianism is the theory which fund the morality on the utility, and affirms that the true utilitity for and individual can't not always get along with the general utility. The utilitarianism fixes as a starting point the thought which recognize that one of the condition of human nature is to think firstly about his own interests: the morality consists in recognize that the utile of the single coincide with the utile of the others. Historically the Utilitarianism found himself in the English philosophy. The term ''utilitarianism'' was used for the first time by J. Bentham, and with that he designed the fundamental character of his own philosophic system. Bentham affirms also the need of all the utilitarian philosophies to create the ethic as an exact science: a rigorous calculus on the quantitative difference of the pleasures. The Utilitarianism broaden also in the juridical and political field, with the proposition of radical reforms. It was then the ce...
Perceptions of the superhero and supervillain are mainly based on subjective definitions of each concept. These observations often lead to a definitive dichotomy that precisely splits characters into two impermeable divisions. However, this stringent separation is unable to account for the characters that are not at the extreme ends of their respective side. Neither is this rift capable of classifying characters that flirt with both sides of the superhero-supervillain dichotomy. Therefore it is imperative to analyze the established criteria for both superhero and supervillain to derive a more adequate explanation. Most superheroes are not easily characterized, but rather fall somewhere between Superman, the bastion of moral purity, and Doctor Doom, the display of indubitable corruption. This solicits genesis of an entirely new notion about the differences between superheroes and supervillains. A more precise idea is that superheroes and supervillains are lined on a spectrum that spans from pure good to pure evil. Disparities between superheroes and supervillains are not black and white, but rather these characters are on a spectrum that radically changes based on individual cases.
Is Joker a good guy? Everyone thinks that Joker is an evil guy. However there is a secret to him. He is a vigilante who kills evil for the greater good, even though it makes him a monster. He does this to fix Gotham City and return it to a place where no crooks can live. In the movie, there are lots of shots that show how he fights for justice by killing evil, he gains nothing for being a vigilante and uses a knife to find the true personality of people to fight for the greater good. The reason why he fights against Batman is because he thinks that he has to kill crooks.
While the Batman’s are facing certain obstacles so are the villains. The villain in each movie is the Joker. The joker character is a sadistic genius. Batman: 1989 has the Joker created by being exposed to chemical waste while The Dark Knights Joker just appeared in the city. Both Jokers’ main...
In the earliest 1940 's superhero films started to become popular on the big screens. One of these popular films is known as Batman, which came out first as a comic book called "The Killing Joke". Batman is considered to be a superhero possessing great talents and for being a true example of hope towards Gotham city. Although these superheroes are one of the main characters in movies, they also have enemies to confront with which are also known as super villains. In this case, the Joker known for his criminal mastermind plays an important role as a villain. Having a huge impact through films, film viewers have had the chance to appreciate different versions of the Batman 's movies. The Joker, being one of the most classical villains in DC Universe is portrayed in different aspects. Analyzing Tim Burton 's Batman (1989) and Christopher Nolan 's The Dark Knight (2008), viewers can assimilate but also differentiate the Joker in couple ways.
American Philosophical Quarterly 21, no. 3 (1984): 227-36.
Smoke billows out from a Manhattan skyscraper, damaged by a fiery explosion. This could easily be a scene from 9/11, however we see Batman looking grimly on as a poster advertises the film will be released soon. Clearly this film plays on the fears of terrorism. As depicted in The Dark Knight, the Joker plays the terrorist, while Gotham’s leadership struggles to contain him. The film departs from the superhero ideals of pure good versus pure evil, showing a murky world where moral decisions have to be made in order to stop evil. Because of this, The Dark Knight seems to be an allegory for the War on Terrorism. This paper will look at how the Joker represents terrorism, while Batman represents George Bush and his administration’s War on Terror.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig; G. E. M. Anscombe, P.M.S. Hacker and Joachim Schulte (eds. and trans.). Philosophical Investigations. 4th edition, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
So the film is an example of post 9/11 popular culture that frames our views of justice and war on terrorism, “it makes everybody think about the present political situation but we 'll probably reach different conclusions about it just as we reach different conclusions about the real world”. Eric Alterman said. And being alive in a post 9/11 universe reflects the tension between legality and necessity. “The Dark Knight shows why making an exception for Batman’s illegal conduct is problematic” (Ip). Because I believe that we should go far enough to stop whatever is threating us, but how far can we really go, without being considered ”corrupt” or “terrorists”? In matter of fact, using these methods on war against terrorism can be costly, and cause multiple complications that could take us into a never ending cycle of war, but there is a reaction to any action. Therefore, I believe in law, order and legality, but I also believe in peace, and in order to achieve peace and happiness, we have to sometimes make an exception in an “emergency situations”. And predict and accept whatever complications that might be created out of it. After all, the power is within the people, “that society ideally should not rely on heroic vigilantes that the people themselves need to show
Utilitarianism is a difficult topic to fathom, for it requires a large amount of questions and self-evaluation. In order to understand utilitarianism, think of bad versus bad. A principle stating that when one is faced with two difficult decisions, which choice would be less harmful for all of those involved? John Stuart Mill and Bernard Williams describe utilitarianism as pain versus pleasure or the lesser of two evils approach, and how that approach ties into ones ultimate choice. Utilitarianism is not about the pursuit of happiness, rather, it is really about picking which evil is the best evil.
Ed. Michael Goldman. Teaching Philosophy 36.2 (2013): 181-82. Print. The.
1) Oxford Readings in Philosophy. The Concept of God. New York: Oxford University press 1987
Ethics can be defined as "the conscious reflection on our moral beliefs with the aim of improving, extending or refining those beliefs in some way." (Dodds, Lecture 2) Kantian moral theory and Utilitarianism are two theories that attempt to answer the ethical nature of human beings. This paper will attempt to explain how and why Kantian moral theory and Utilitarianism differ as well as discuss why I believe Kant's theory provides a more plausible account of ethics.
The utilitarianism theory holds that an action is moral if it produces the greatest amount of good for the largest amount of people that are affected by the consequences of the action DeGeorge 44). Jeremy Bentham believed that one should measure the intensity, duration, certainty, remoteness, or purity and their opposites when evaluating for each person that is affected (DeGeorge 46). For example, a consequence that gives a more desirable quality like pleasure would be favored, just like if one would receive a good immediately rather than at a later time, the sooner would be favored. To know whether the action produces the absolute greatest good, one must compare it with alternative actions as well. To determine whether an action is moral or not, one should calculate the action and its opposite. An action is moral if it produces more good than harm and its opposite produces more harm than good. Utilitarianism should also be interpreted as requiring one to choose the best action among good actions. For example, if two actions produce the same amount of good, then they are both moral and either may be done (DeGeorge 47).