The Walking Dead and Philosophy

Emily Caprio – H02

The Walking Dead and Philosophy: I’m Gonna Tell Them about Wayne

Wayne Dunlap was a character in the first season of the Walking Dead in which Rick Grimes memorialized. He pulls out Wayne’s wallet from his corpse and tells the group:

 “Wayne Dunlap. Georgia license. Born in 1979. He had $28 in his pocket when he died. And a picture of a pretty girl. ‘With love from Rachel.’ He used to be like us. Worrying about bills or the rent or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I’m gonna tell them about Wayne.”

Rick’s message of short and simple observations makes it clear: walkers used to be human and this fact has moral significance.

Now, with this message in mind, consider this argument: All humans deserve moral respect. Which could be a common and agreeable statement. Even all deceased humans deserve moral respect. All zombies are popularly characterized as deceased humans. Therefore, all zombies deserve moral respect.

Maybe being deceased is not considered as morally valuable as living. On the other hand, we do feel the need to respect the requested wishes of people who die and their bodies. We respect legal wills, graves, and cadavers because we see the deceased person that carries through them. Because they were former humans, a concept was discovered that attempts to demonstrate how walkers remain like people in two ways:

1.    Walkers are human corpses, and corpses receive morally governed respect

2.    Walkers continue to do some of the basic things that the deceased persons actually chose to do during their lives, like eating and moving from place to place

Since we feel like we have this need to fulfill a deceased person’s wishes, how would you want to react when you see that deceased person’s body up and walking? Take this scenario as an example: when a person dies in the Walking Dead, some characters see that there could be a glimmer of humanity still left in walkers. For example, if a walker’s limb was cut off, a character would say “Look, they still bleed! They still stumble back as if it hurt them!” Therefore, they would still want to wish their moral dignity and rights upon them.

Immanuel Kant defines dignity as the inherent worth or moral value that people possess as rational beings who exercise free will. Alongside this, free will is defined as the ability that people have to make choices, and free will translates into dignity because beings that can make choices deserve respect. The concept of dignity by choice is shown in the first season of the Walking Dead when Rick and Shane respect Jim’s choice to stay behind and die because his choice to do so is freely made by an infected but SELF-AWARE person. Does this mean that walkers no longer have the respect of dignity because they aren’t officially self-aware?

Quiz Questions:

1.    Who did Rick memorialize to remind the group that they were human once?

2.    What do we respect when a person dies?

3.    Which philosopher defines dignity?

4.    Who’s wishes do Rick and Shane fulfill?

Discussion Questions:

1.    Would you respect a walker?

2.    With the thought that you could become a walker, how would you want someone to treat your corpse?







Midterm link: https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2018/10/are-you-just-braaaiiinnnsss-or.html
As for the comments, I've been trying to comment on the Truman Show post by Cameron Welch and Personal Identity by Samuel Shapiro, but for some reason it won't let me comment at all.

Truman Show: I love the connection that is brought up between the move and real life! Great Job!
Personal Identity: The ship of Theseus concept is absolutely mind-blowing for me to think about. I've never heard of it before.