Moral Change: The Lives of Others

The movie The Lives of Others is based in East Berlin in 1984. It involves an agent of the secret police, Wiesler, who is invited to a theatrical premiere by his old school friend, Lieutenant-Colonel Anton Grubitz. The play is written by German playwright Georg Dreyman and the leading character is played by Dreyman’s lover, Christa-Maria Sieland. Dreyman has a certain notoriety among DDR officials because he’s one of the few East German writers whose work is read in the West. Wiesler suspects that Dreyman’s loyalty to the party is not as strong as it may seem. This causes Wiesler to conduct surveillance on Dreyman and Chista-Maria. Throughout the movie, Wiesler finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives and starts to question his own. I think the change that Wiesler undergoes is realistic and mostly follows Hume’s theory, because he becomes more sympathetic throughout the film and eventually covers for Dreyman for something that could cause him to lose his job.

According to Aristotle, we learn moral virtues by habit and they are developed through practice. A person’s character is formed by what they do and the structure of their habits. We are all born with the potential to be morally virtuous, but we must behave the right way consistently in order to train ourselves. Since there are no absolute rules to follow, we can only observe that it consists of some mean between the extremes of deficiency and excess. For example, truthfulness consists in finding a mean between the extremes of being suspicious and being over-trusting. By calling excellence of character a state, Aristotle means that it is not a mere tendency to behave in specific ways. Virtue is a disposition, not a feeling. It is disposition to be...

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...l idea of what can be achieved in the real world. This would conflict with Aristotle’s theory, because Wielser changed emotionally first then his actions followed.

Although some of the changes in Weisler’s character could follow Aristotle’s theory; for the majority, they follow Hume’s theory. At the end, Weisler becomes more sympathetic and starts showing emotion; this is shown by him covering up for Dreyman. He becoming truly interested in Dreyman and Christa-Maria’s lives also shows his sympathy. This movie shows that people do have the ability to change their character.

Works Cited

The Lives of Others. Dir. Floria Henckel von Donnersmarch. Sony Classics. 2006. Film.

Hume, David. Concerning the Principles of Morals (ed. Selby-Bigge and Nidditch). Oxford, Clarendon, 1978.

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics (trans. W.D. Ross). Kitchener, Batoche Books,1999.