In this episode, I discuss the tension between deontological and consequentialist ethics, and the dialogue in the film, "A Few Good Men," and how the dialogue between Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise in the movie is a perfect example of this tension.
00:00:00.000Hi everybody, this is Gad Saad. One of the many benefits of art in general and films in particular is that they sometimes share with us really important issues that are, in many cases, universal issues that speak to our shared common human nature, that speak to ethical principles that humankind has been debating and discussing.
00:00:30.000And grappling with since time immemorial. And so what I'd like to do today is talk about very briefly, I mean, something that I've talked about on many previous occasions, including in the parasitic mind, this tension between deontological versus consequentialist ethics, right?
00:00:46.720Do you always adhere to some absolute moral standard or legal edict? Or should it always be looked, whatever action you engage in, through the calculus of consequentialism?
00:01:02.120So, it is never okay to lie would be a deontological statement. It is okay to lie to spare someone's feelings would be a consequentialist statement.
00:01:10.180And so, when Trump went ahead and extracted Maduro from Venezuela, many people were arguing that, no, there are, I mean, they didn't use the term deontological, but there are deontological principles that don't allow you to go into another country and take out a guy, no matter how execrable he might be.
00:01:34.160Whereas others say, no, no, this is a case where, you know, there is a mechanism by which Trump is allowed to do this, and he's doing it, and the world will be better for it.
00:01:45.420And of course, there are valuable insights to be gleaned from either positions, but what I'd like to do today, and I want to give a hat tip to my very good friend, Michael Shermer, I saw him posting the transcript to truly one of the most brilliant dialogue exchanges in a film, A Few Good Men, with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise.
00:02:13.060So, I'm going to play it here, and I trust that this is under the fair use clause, and that it doesn't affect the commercial viability of the film.
00:02:23.620I'm taking a small snippet for educational and academic reasons.
00:02:30.180First, watch it, and tell me how astoundingly relevant it is to the current realities that we're facing.
00:03:12.180You have the luxury of not knowing what I know, that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives, and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.
00:03:24.540You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties.
00:03:44.400I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it.
00:03:55.980I would rather you just said thank you and went on your way.
00:03:59.300Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post.
00:04:03.300Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
00:04:11.060I mean, they don't make movies like this anymore.
00:04:13.000It's now all, you know, Superman and Batman and, you know, AI-generated stuff.
00:04:21.400Film is an art because of dialogue like the one that you just watched.
00:04:26.740In any case, what you're watching, I mean, I won't get into all the weeds of the story behind A Few Good Men if you haven't seen it,
00:04:34.960but you have here a high-ranking officer that's saying, look, sometimes you have to do things
00:04:40.360that while they might be unappealing to your progressive lisp sensibilities, you have to do them because the outcome is that the world will be a better place for it.
00:04:52.560So, for example, when the Democrats say, oh, but you didn't go through the 73 rules before you blew up, you know, the poor tourists,
00:05:03.040Venezuelan tourists who were on a speedboat going from a well-known drug cartel place to deliver drugs to the U.S.
00:05:13.300because there's a mechanism and it's not fair and it's not right for you to just blow them up.
00:05:18.040That would be an example that is contrary to what the colonel was saying in that clip.
00:05:23.240When you say that you have to engage in a series of 17 steps before you blow up some terrorists that are going across some desert
00:05:36.120because otherwise it would not follow the proper protocol,
00:05:41.240again, it's probably falling into the traps of suicidal empathy.
00:05:46.700Of course, we live in a civilized society where there are laws that govern our behaviors.
00:05:56.360But in the ugly realities of dictatorships and totalitarian regimes and enemy combatants who wish to impart great harm to your civilization,
00:06:11.580then maybe relaxing some of your suicidal empathetic tendencies might be appropriate.
00:06:18.640Anyway, something for you to think about.