WANTED: Dead or Alive?

Can you imagine if one of your loved ones became a walker? Can you imagine having to decide whether or not to keep them "alive" as a walker and let them "live" a life of a zombie? Seeing a loved one as a walker may be tough, however the alternative to that is killing them so they do not "live" as a walker. As a walker, they do not live a normal life. Instead, they are taken over by a ZOMBIE.

Walker

 Throughout the television series, The Walking Dead, the ethical decision of whether or not to kill a loved one becomes a common occurrence. This is not just any ordinary loved one; this is a loved one who has been killed by another zombie, known as a walker. Do you really want to see your mother, father, sister, brother, friend or anyone else you love look like this walker? As a walker, they do not live a life remotely close to what they used to live as normal humans. They are attracted to the smell of living humans and when they have that instant attraction, they don't hesitate to feed themselves.


 The Governor of the town had to personally face this ethical decision. Although the killing of his daughter was not specified, she is now a walker and he had chose to keep her alive. However, he doesn't let her out of a cage he has in his home. He is still holding onto those memories of his daughter before she was a walker. A little girl in a cage is a sad sight to see but the feeling of killing your own daughter must be simply indescribable. A similar situation occurs when Rick's young son, Carl, is put in a terrible predicament. Carl was forced to watch his mother die during child birth. He was faced with the decision of having to kill his mother before she turned into a walker, or to let her live as a walker. This decision is not only tough for a young boy, but anyone of any age. Carl's ultimate decision was to kill his mother by shooting her in the head.

This ultimatum that many of the characters have to face throughout the series, The Walking Dead, is driven by a theory that can be related to Kant. Salazar states in her essay Kantian Business Ethics:

"After the maxim for action is evaluated as being permissible, impermissible, or required to act upon, and it passes the test, being either permissible or required to act upon, one must determine whether the motivation for acting on it is good."

Kant believed that actions are mainly driven for the goodness of the outcome. He philosophized that it does not matter whether or not the person wants to do the action. What matters is the good it serves for the outcome of the situation. This is great support to the actions of the Governor and Carl regarding their loved ones. Their actions were based off of good intentions and did it based off of what they would want for the ones they love. For the Governor's situation, he did not want to see his daughter out in society killing other humans. Could you really blame him? Carl's situation was tough but he did what he thought was best for his family. Again with both actions being required to act upon, the motivation for acting in situations like this are good. Keeping Kant's theory in mind, would you kill a loved one if they became a walker?

Walker (left) and main characters

References:

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