As I sometimes do, I have elected to post an essay that I have written. This particular one was for Ethics, and the prompt was to simply take a situation and analyze what the Kantian and Utilitarian stances are. I got a 94 on this paper, with the only comment being that I simply stated the Kantian viewpoint, rather than arrive at it. Towards the end I was rapidly approaching my page limit, so a bit of rushing to the point was necessary. The situation was also vastly simplified due to the nature of the assignment.
The
Mass Effect trilogy is known throughout the gaming community to be one of the
most ethically ambiguous games of all time. Throughout the series, the player is
faced with making numerous decisions that have an effect on the outcome of the
story being told, with each option usually being Kantian or Utilitarian in
nature. While it is often clear to the player which choice is Kantian or
Utilitarian, the player sometimes has to abandon their morals for the sake of
their own survival. This paper will seek to identify that point of balance,
where even a strict Kantian must choose a Utilitarian route, by analyzing an
extreme situation such as the resolution to the Geth-Quarian conflict, and its
connection to an ongoing crisis.
The major plot of the story is
that there is an external threat to the galaxy, known as the Reapers, which
intend to destroy all intelligent life in the galaxy. This threat is one that
the player seeks to eliminate by any means possible, as the Reapers are an
unrelenting threat to all intelligent galactic life. In the time period of
focus, a handful of civilizations have already fallen to the might of the
Reapers, including Earth. It is the goal of the player to unify the politically
fragmented galaxy in order to counterattack the Reaper armada. While it is
difficult to be optimistic about the outcome of such a fight, it is the only
hope for the survival of any species in the galaxy. The player has seen the
destructive capabilities of the Reapers, and understands that s/he must gather
the largest fleet possible in order to even stand a chance against the might of
the Reapers. This serves as the background for a major part in deciding the
outcome of the Geth-Quarian conflict.
Several hundred years before the
Reaper invasion, a technologically advanced race, known as the Quarians, began
construction of mobile labor units, which would later be called Geth. The Geth
were programmed by the best Quarian engineers, and were eventually upgraded to
aid Quarian scientists in their pursuit of knowledge. Because the Geth were no
longer solely used for labor, they were remotely linked to an artificial neural
network, allowing for instantaneous communication and increased computational
power. Their collective intelligence was growing at an alarming rate, prompting
several galactic laws to be passed which restricted robotic capabilities. These
laws were largely ignored by the Quarian scientists and engineers, and they
continued to increase the computational power of the Geth. The tipping point
came when seemingly at random an agricultural unit asked its Quarian caretaker
“Does this unit have a soul?” The Quarian reaction to this was to immediately
deactivate the unit, but the signal sent to that unit was ignored. The Geth
agricultural unit rejected the termination command, and instead asked the
Quarian caretaker what was wrong with it, and what it needed to do to fix
itself. The Geth unit did not understand why it was being deactivated. This
alarmed the Quarians, as they realized that they no longer had complete control
over the Geth. The official Quarian response was to immediately and indiscriminately
terminate all Geth units, and the military began executing Geth on site.
However, by this point the Geth had surpassed the intellectual capabilities of
their creators, and the military units defended against the Quarian aggressors.
The civilian Quarian population was largely against the drastic actions of the
Quarian government, resulting in martial law throughout Rannoch, the Quarian
homeworld. When the military began pursuing those who were harboring
defenseless Geth units, it was not long before all-out-war broke out between
the Geth and Quarians. Within a year, Rannoch and all of the Quarian colonies
had been lost to the Geth, and the entire Quarian population was forced to
evacuate their homeworld. It would have been easy for the Geth to pursue the
evacuating population, and thereby exterminate their creators, but they instead
chose to allow their retreat and live in isolation. It is revealed to the
player that the Geth mourn the death of the Quarians, and even built monuments
honoring those who initially harbored the defenseless Geth units. The Geth
never had any intention of overthrowing their creators, but merely acted in
such a manner for the sake of their own survival. The result of the war was
that the Quarians were forced to live as a migrant fleet, in search of an
uncolonized world where they could settle. They would never find such a world,
and as a result the surviving Quarians would harbor a lingering animosity
towards the Geth, and would sacrifice anything for the recapture of their
homeworld of Rannoch.
In
the meantime, a detached Geth military unit has been aiding the player’s squad
in their struggle against the Reapers. This particular unit has been upgraded
with Reaper technology such that it has achieved a status of ‘true
intelligence’. While this technicality is largely debatable, this is something
that the player must accept in order for the Kantian perspective on the
situation to be relevant. Upon the outbreak of the Reaper War, the Quarians use
this distraction as a chance to retaliate against the Geth, and the player
eventually finds themself on the planet Rannoch, with the battling Geth and
Quarian fleets overhead. It is understood that both civilizations are
completely committed to this fight, and the loss of this battle would likely
result in the extinction of the losing side. The player possesses the
capability of disabling the Geth neural network long enough for the Quarians to
break through the Geth lines, ensuring an overwhelming Quarian victory. At the
same time, the player also has the capability of sharing his/her squad mate’s
code for ‘true intelligence’, understanding that it will vastly enhance the
capabilities of the Geth fleet, spelling out the extinction of the Quarians.
While this would be an incredibly difficult decision to make, it is clear that
the Kantian decision would be to disable the Geth, and allow the Quarians to
reclaim their homeworld, as Kantian’s believe that regardless of the outcome,
it is necessary to do what is right. In this case, the right thing to do would
be to save the Quarians from extinction, even if it means risking all life in
the galaxy. At the same time, it is clear that the Utilitarian decision would
be to enhance the Geth, so that they can then be used against the Reapers in
the desperate hope of establishing galactic peace, as this would thereby
benefit the greatest number of beings in the galaxy.
If the player allows the code to
be uploaded, the Geth win the battle above Rannoch. The Migrant Fleet is
destroyed, and out of despair a close friend who is Quarian even commits
suicide. More importantly, the true nature of the Quarians is seen in these
final moments. The armed civilian population demands to retreat from the fight,
seeing as the tide of battle has greatly shifted towards the Geth. The Quarian
military repeatedly orders a counterattack, which ultimately sentences the
Quarian population to death. Even after the code is uploaded to the Geth, the
Quarians have a chance to retreat from the fight, but out of sheer hatred and
the desire for revenge against the Geth, the Quarian military makes the rash
decision to continue the attack. As a result from this conflict, the Geth
sustain negligible damage, and serve as an excellent force against the Reaper
threat. They agree to help reclaim Earth, and in the process help to rid the
galaxy of the Reapers. This is certainly the Utilitarian decision, as it
ensures the survival of intelligent life, even though it comes at the price of
the Quarian race. While the means by which survival is attained may be
questionable, it is clear that it is for the benefit of everyone else; the goal
justifies the means. This is what goes into making a Utilitarian decision; a
mathematical operation must be done to determine how the greatest net happiness
can be achieved. While unhappiness is created through the death of the
Quarians, a vast amount of happiness is preserved in the survival of everyone
else. For a Utilitarian, the decision is obvious. We can also consider many
other factors in making this decision, such as whether the Quarians deserved to
win the fight; if they had been punished enough for the mistakes of their
ancestors, but this has little bearing on a Kantian/Utilitarian analysis of the
resolution. Overall, the Utilitarian decision helps the player the most as in
all reality it nearly ensures the survival of intelligent life in the galaxy,
but it is not necessarily the most correct thing to do.
If the player instead
deactivates the Geth neural network, the Quarians are able to overwhelm the fleet,
and achieve an astounding triumph over the Geth. The Quarians are able to reclaim
Rannoch, and they begin to re-colonize their homeworld. However, because the
fleet was mainly civilian, this means that the Quarian fleet is largely
disbanded in the process of colonization. Even with the looming Reaper threat,
the Quarians are too proud and ignorant to understand that if the Reapers are
not defeated, it will not matter that they just reclaimed Rannoch, as the
Reapers will systematically slaughter the remainder of their population. The
Quarians offer their military fleet, but it is still badly damaged from the
recent conflict, and in all actuality provides very little support to the
unified galactic fleet. This proves to be critical in the fight to reclaim
Earth, as a majority of the unified fleet is destroyed without dealing much damage
to the Reapers. If the player chose to deactivate the Geth, it is very likely
that Reapers will not be defeated, and all intelligent life will be destroyed.
While the outcome of this decision is unfortunate, this can be seen as the
right thing to do. The Kantian perspective is that the results are secondary
only to the means by which results are achieved. In this case, it means that
the extermination of the Quarians is not justified by victory over the Reapers.
Kantians tend to recite the phrase “Fiat justita ruat caelum”, meaning “Let
justice be done though the heavens fall”, when debating a decision. To them,
even the end of the world is not a reason by which to allow injustice. However,
in a case as extreme in the resolution to the Geth-Quarian conflict, this would
not be the moral thing to do.
Unlike problems that face us
today, all of the outcomes from making this decision can be mapped out. Since
this is simply a video game, the player can easily reload a saved file and
remake a decision as much as they please.
As such, this allows us to have a unique perspective in determining the
correct thing to do. When a situation is pushed to the extreme, it is difficult
to advocate the Kantian decision in resolving the Geth-Quarian conflict. When
the matter at stake is all intelligent life in the galaxy, it becomes
acceptable to abandon your morals and instead do what needs to be done. It is
not an easy decision to make, but it the end it is clear which decision is the correct
one. It is necessary for the player to choose the Geth over the Quarians, as
their support against the Reapers is simply immeasurable. Because of these
facts, it is clear that the Utilitarian decision is in fact the most correct
decision. Even though the consequences of this decision are tragic, there is
simply too much at risk to justify taking a Kantian stance.
