Heroes: Morality [Nathan Tilton, Midterm 3/4]

"Evolution is imperfect and often a violent process. A battle between what exists and what is yet to be born. Amidst these birth pains, morality loses its meaning, the question of good and evil reduced to one simple choice: survive or perish." ~ Mohinder

The super-hero genre is built upon a bedrock of moral heroes and villains. For example, who can forget Uncle Ben? Part of what makes Heroes entertaining is that it forces its characters into complicated moral dilemmas. This post will examine a few characters and the moral choices that they face.

Niki Sanders 'ability' is that she has a split personality. Her sister, Jessica,   was murdered by her father. Though Niki doesn't seem to remember this, Jessica (also the name of Niki's alter ego), does.

Jessica, like the rest of show's abilities, is an evolutionary product. She's an extreme version of "fight or flight" instincts; she emerges when Niki or her son, Micah, is threatened. 

This has an interesting connection to the philosopher John Locke. Locke believed that identity was linked to memory, and thus memory was also linked to morality. Niki cannot remember Jessica does, nor does she seem to have control over when Jessica emerges. This extreme lack of moral control leads Niki to actually incarcerate herself, hoping that jail will stop Jessica's influence upon the people around her. Is Niki responsible for the actions that  Jessica commits? Are we responsible for actions that we do not consciously commit? 

Sigmund Freud would say that Jessica is a drastic representation of the subconscious desires that we all suppress. Is it that Niki does not have moral control, or is it  rather that this is the manifestation of her true self, Jessica? 

While Niki faces the dilemma of moral responsibility, Noah Bennet must reexamine conventional moral codes. For that reason, he may be the show's most controversial figure. 

During the first season, Noah's daughter, Claire, is being hunted by the show's villain, Syler. Noah bends and oversteps many ethical bounds in order to protect his daughter: he attempts to wipe the memories of his family, manipulates a drug addict (who's in remission) to take drugs, and eventually tortures Syler once he is caught.

Is Noah justified? Though this is an extreme application of pragmatism, it could be said that Noah is a Utilitarian (such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mills). Noah is more concerned with the results of his actions than the means by which achieves them. The caveat here is that Noah's 'Felicific Calculus' may be off in how it computes which decisions result in the greatest amount of happiness.

So far we have examined two aspects of the idea of the Hero. What is a hero meant to do, and how is he/she meant to do it? This next segment, which will be the last, will examine perhaps the bedrock question of the series. What is the identity of a hero?