Emily Caprio - H02
The Walking Dead and Philosophy: Chapter 1
For years, the question of “Are Zombies Real?” has always been asked and many still find to seek the answer. The question become so popular that it even caught philosophers’ attentions. It became such a controversial topic amongst philosophers that it eventually divided them into two different fields of beliefs: materialism and dualism. When the first episode of The Walking Dead aired on TV on October 31, 2010, more controversy on the subject of zombies appeared. Eventually, a theoretical structure of what zombies were appeared. They are philosophical zombies (or P-zombies for short), and they are not your typical walker from The Walking Dead. The philosophical zombies, in comparison to the walkers, are more abstract and “philosophical.” P-zombies speak, act, and look the exact same as a human, however, the distinguishing feature of a P-zombie is that it lacks consciousness. It lacks the inner experience that you and I have of the world.
With having an ideal origin to an actual definition for a “zombie,” more questions started to emerge. However, there is one singular question that draws more attention: Is there something in a human being that isn’t physical that cannot be eaten by a walker? Philosophers agreed that if there is something non-physical about humans, it would be labeled as consciousness, which means that there is more than just flesh-and-bones getting reanimated by the zombie infection.
You Can Eat My Body, But You’ll Never Eat My Mind!
As we can tell by just watching The Walking Dead, none of the characters seem to have read much philosophy. However, some characters unconsciously and strongly support certain philosophies. The two main philosophies that is always referenced to are Dualism and Materialism. Dualism is a view that humans are both physical and non-physical. For example, in The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes tells Morgan “You know that’s not your son. Your son died… That’s just his body --- there’s nothing of your son left in there.” when his son Duane became a walker.
One philosopher was famous for his support for dualism through his book Meditations on First Philosophy. Rene Descartes believed that the mind can exist without the body, which lead to his famous phrase “I think, therefore I am.” He claims that we should see the part of us that we refer to as “I”, as a completely separate thing from our physical bodies.
You’re Just Tasty Meat All The Way Down…
Materialism is the other philosophical view in The Walking Dead which states that the entire universe and everything in it, including the human mind, is physical. Dr. Edwin Jenner in “TS-19”, for example, shows the group an “enhanced internal view” of Test Subject 19’s brain and states that the “electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages are everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light… is you – a thing that make you unique, and human.” In other words, Dr. Jenner is saying that you are a physical part in your brain – the neocortex.
Quiz Questions:
1. What were the two different philosophical fields that divided philosophers?
2. What did Rene Descartes believe?
3. What does Materialism state?
4. Where does Dr. Jenner say you are located in your brain?
Discussion Questions:
1. Would you consider yourself to be more of a Dualist or a Materialist? Why?
2. What is your opinion on Rene Descartes’s famous saying “I think, therefore I am?”
3. How would you describe what makes you “you?”
4. What do you imagine it’s like being a walker?
What a cool topic! For a while, as a follower of the show, I often struggled with the dilemma you nicely described above. Who hasn't wondered if they could––at least on an intellectual level––justify killing their undead loved one? Descartes is certainly a fine representative of modern philosophical dualism. Many say that his framing of the mind/body problem is still with us today, whether philosophers are defending or attacking it. So far as your report goes, I would just stress that human consciousness is something that dualists and materialists (or physicalists, if you prefer) can agree exists. The disagreement comes in with discussions about whether or not consciousness can exist independently of the physical body, where it's usually located in the brain (e.g. Dr. Jenner's neocortext). You might remember that Descartes saw the brain as a site of interaction between mind and body (at the pineal gland), but he didn't see the brain as something on which the mind depended for existence. Upon death, perhaps including "death" by walker, the mind or soul survives, parting from the body and leaving a shell behind. Interestingly, a materialist might agree, if they knew that the consciousness that made you YOU no longer existed because of the walker infection, that the reanimated body is just a shell. Echoing Rick Grimes, the materialist would say, "You're body is moving, but you're really dead." Both Descartes and the materialist might agree that killing walker Duane is not the same as killing the real Duane.
ReplyDeleteWell, I apparently couldn't help getting caught up in that; shows just how engaging a topic it is. Great job putting philosophy in conversation with popular culture, Emily, and also great job on bringing in more contemporary philosophical voices. As much as we are indebted to the voices of centuries past, they're far from having the last say!