The text below was a post I wrote after the finale of a TV show I enjoy watching called The Walking Dead. My Philosophy/Ethics course has helped me see the show in a whole new light and I rarely find people who are as interested in dissecting such content. The show is ripe for ethical analysis due to the characters constantly being faced with life or death situations brought on by an onslaught of zombies (which they stubbornly refer to as “Walkers”). Instead of finding others in-person, I turned to the internet, presented my thoughts, and asked for commentary.
The text I posted can be found below. The post was made …show more content…
She may also be a utilitarian like Rick. She's becoming smitten with the power she never thought she had. This doesn't follow a normative theory that I know of but it seems that she wants what's best for the group which means that "right" and "wrong" don't really apply in a single case - it matters what produces the best consequences for the group. I wouldn't be surprised if the love of the power she now possesses overcomes her and she makes some selfish and power-hungry decisions next season. This is a problem with a utilitarian because it's difficult not to give your own utility more value for the group than you actually bring to the table. When confronted with this reality, the utilitarian can sometimes become hostile because not only are you questioning their utility, you're questioning any utility of the …show more content…
An altruist is someone who believes that the welfare of others is very important. They feel that "all life is precious" and that even someone (or two people) who try to kill them, have value in the world. They could believe that in the world of The Walking Dead, that using a gun is a last resort and that knocking someone unconscious with a large stick is the preferred way of defending oneself (it would never be used for offense). They would also be a loyal person who might walk across several states on their own if they felt that they owed it to someone else to get to them. If I haven't beaten the horse hard enough, I'm talking about