Is Sacrifice a Necessity During The Apocalypse?

               In the movie World War Z, Gerry Lane and some other men land on Vietnam because he caught word that the zombies originated there. Seeking the origin of the outbreak for valuable information, the military there knows nothing. As they are sneaking out of Vietnam en route to Israel where they hear there are no zombies, a phone call goes off and alerts the dead, and Gerry is left scrambling for his cargo plane to takeoff and escape. The leader of that post, Captain Speke, who could've easily gotten back in his car and escaped as well, decided to assist Gerry on his way back. He decided to fend off zombies for the slim chance that Gerry could help humanity, sacrificing his own life. Utilitarians would say that the long-term consequences, the chance of saving humanity, outweigh the short-term effect- death. Kantians would also defend it by saying his maxim is from good will, and the steps of categorical imperative apply. The only thing that mattered is what is morally right, which was to save Gerry to keep the slim chance of saving humanity as a whole. In the movie World War Z, both Utilitarians and Kantians would defend Captain Speke’s ambitious and ethical decision. 

        

           In the movie Word War Z, a devoted father and former UN employee Gerry Lane is driving down the street with his family when zombies attack. A former co-worker for the UN sends a helicopter to extract Lane and his family, but says they will get kicked off the safe ship if he doesn't agree to help the cause. Lane is dragged into the war for love and desire for his family to be safe. Although Lane is the protagonist in the movie, the ethical situation more directly involves Captain Speke, the leader of the U.S. military in Vietnam. He chooses to escort Lane to an aircraft instead of staying safe. When the zombies attack, he fends them off alone on the battlefield, with his snipers helping him from afar. After realizing he has been infected with the disease, the snipers ask via telecom if they should do the honors. Speke responds "It's alright boys. I got this one"(World War Z), and shoots himself in the head with dignity and his humanity. Gerry escapes, and proceeds to help humanity survive.

        Utilitarianism is a philosophy in which an individual carefully considers their actions according to both short and long term consequences. According to Heather Salazar, "...one should not be self-centered very often"(Salazar 1393). It is clear that Captain Speke is not self centered and is extremely aware of both the short and long term consequences of his actions. He knows that Lane might very well be humanity's last hope to survive, so he agrees to help him get to the aircraft to escape after the zombies arrive. This decision is not self-centered because his decision risks his life and is for the greater good of humanity, not for himself. Lane reaches the aircraft while Speke is left to be infected by the zombies. Such a skilled individual would be a deadly zombie, so he makes the ultimate decision to kill himself before that happens. The educated decision that Speke ultimately made is very much supported by Utilitarians because he is sacrificing himself to protect the rest of his soldiers and to the rest of humanity. He died with his dignity, as well as his humanity.

Gerry being escorted by soldiers

         Kantianism is a philosophy created by Immanuel Kant. He stated that each person has their own duties. And in reality, no two duties can be handled the same way. To act in a way that is morally right, "...one must be motivated from DUTY, seeking to do what is right because it is right..." (Salazar 1392). To analyze Captain Speke's situation, a Kantian would use the categorical imperative. The first step would be to formulate a maxim for action. According to Heather Salazar, "Developing a statement of the action will allow you and others to analyze whether the action is correct or not" (Salazar 5), and a Kantian would argue that the statement Captain Speke would make in this case would be "I need to put my life on the line for the sake of humanity". The next step is to decide whether it is coming from good will, which clearly a Kantian would argue that both aiding Lane and killing himself are both from good will. A Kantian could follow these steps for the categorical imperative and agree that Captain Speke risking his life for Gerry Lane is ethically right and would agree with the decision.

        Personally, I also agree with Captain Speke in his decisions to help Gerry and kill himself before he turned hostile. In a world like that, death is imminent. Zombies were clearly taking over the world, and humanity was dwindling down fast. I feel like he wanted to die with a purpose, and he realized how much Gerry meant to humanity. For the good of all people, he sacrificed himself by putting himself on the front lines-something he didn't have to do. He wanted to help. Captain Speke lived up to his high rank of captain in the military by his actions in my mind. I think both philosophies really nail the point that this was the right decision, but I feel as though Utilitarianism can explain it to a better extent. The long term reaction was the potential of humanity to be saved, which at the time of the decisions was dwindling rapidly. This reaction, by far, trumps the short term reaction of his own death. I believe this because one human, especially a human who swore to give his life to a country, should be sacrificed for the good of humanity in the context on an apocalypse.

Resources

Salazar, Heather. “Kantian Business Ethics,” in Business in Ethical Focus, ed. Fritz Allhoff and     Anand J. Vaidya. Broadview Press, 2008. p.1392.

Salazar, Heather. “Self-Interest,” The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Series on Ethics and Morality, ed. by Robert Fastiggi. Gale Cengage Learning, 2013.

World War Z. Dir. Marc Forster. Perf. Brad Pitt. Plan B Entertainment, 2013. Film.