Friday, December 4, 2009

So not only am I Lost...

...I'm also kinda obsessed with a serial killer.

After Chelsea's post I realized how much I missed being obsessed with a television drama. Lost isn't on for awhile so I turned to Dexter. The show is about a serial killer who kills other serial killers. Here's my thought process on it:

The main character is a serial killer who kills other serial killers. The inconsistency lies in whether or not the main character can be considered moral and whether serial killers have a right to life.

P1: Killing people is not moral
P2: Dexter Kills people
C: Dexter is not moral

But

Many people believe that it is moral to kill serial killers via death penalty. This implies that serial killers do not have a right to life. Can Dexter really be considered immoral for killing serial killers if serial killers do not have a right to life?

If Dexter was caught he would be considered a serial killer. Inference tells us that therefore, Dexter does not have a right to life. But Dexter only kills a being that also do not have a right to life. Therefore he can not technically be considered a "killer" because he has not killed anything that has a right to life and so Dexter retains his right to life.

Can Dexter be considered immoral for killing something that does not have a right to life? Can you be considered immoral for killing a fly which (presumably) does not have a right to life? I would say no. This leaves me with the opinion that Dexter is doing nothing wrong and is morally justified to kill the serial killers. However, murder is still not morally correct and therefore I am left with an inconsistency as to whether or not to "like" Dexter and I am only two episodes in.

Its kinda a lot like batman. Dexter is a person who breaks moral rules in order to help society. The question is whether society is willing to let a person break the rules.

This probably wasn't the best thing to do right before finals because I find myself thinking about it more often then about my impending exams. However I feel like I logically thought it through so I'm going to say that in watching Dexter I am also studying for Philosophy.

4 comments:

  1. welcome to me philosophy class...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dexter is pretty high up on my "TV shows to watch during Xmas Break When I am Sitting on My Ass" list. It may have been knocked up a few notches. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm on season 2 right now. Its still good. Give it a shot!

    ReplyDelete