The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy

You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned

Jason T. Eberl, Kevin S. Decker, Jason T. Eberl, Kevin S. Decker, William Irwin

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781119038061
• eBook ISBN: 9781119038085
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

Does it take faith to be a Jedi? Are droids capable of thought? Should Jar Jar Binks be held responsible for the rise of the Empire? Presenting entirely new essays, no aspect of the myth and magic of George Lucas's creation is left philosophically unexamined in The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy.

• The editors of the original Star Wars and Philosophy strike back in this Ultimate volume that encompasses the complete Star Wars universe
• Presents the most far-reaching examination of the philosophy behind Star Wars – includes coverage of the entire film catalogue to date as well as the Expanded Universe of novels, comics, television series, games and toys
• Provides serious explorations into the deeper meaning of George Lucas's philosophically rich creation
• Topics explored include the moral code of bounty-hunter favourite Boba Fett, Stoicism and the Jedi Order, the nature of the Dark Side, Anakin and Achilles in a nihilism face-off, feminism and being chained to a giant slug, cloning, de-extinction, fatherhood, Wookiees, loyalty, betrayal, guardians, republics, tyrants, terrorism, civic duty, friendship, family, and more!

 

Episode I

THE PHILOSOPHICAL MENACE

1
The Platonic Paradox of Darth Plagueis: How Could a Sith Lord Be Wise?

Terrance MacMullan

“Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?” When Anakin's friend and mentor Chancellor Palpatine casually asks him this question as they enjoy a Mon Calamari ballet on Coruscant, you can almost hear Anakin wonder to himself, “How could a Sith be wise?” Believed extinct for a thousand years, the Sith had a terrifying reputation as malicious agents of irrepressible evil. From a certain point of view, particularly that of a Jedi, the idea of a wise Sith is quite odd, if not outright impossible.

Another sage who would've been confounded by the idea of a wise Sith was Plato of Athens (429–347 BCE). As a Sith, Plagueis was a devotee of the Dark Side of the Force, which grants enormous powers to those brave enough to become living conduits for passions like hatred and anger. Such a person would be the exact opposite of what Plato would call “wise.” For Plato, wisdom is a virtue that is inextricably bound to humility and justice: it is found in the soul of the person who has learned to subdue their spirit and appetite through the exercise of reason. “Plagueis the Wise Lord of the Sith” therefore would present an insurmountable paradox to Plato: if Plagueis is a master of using, rather than calming, his spirit and indulging his appetites, how could he possibly be wise? How is it that he was able to live for well over a century without suffering the self-destruction that Plato foresees for anyone who does not rein in spirit and appetite? This paradox opens horizons for reflection on the themes of ethics, wisdom, and freedom. It also raises the possibility that Plato's ideal of wisdom is too narrow, and that a different philosophy of life might better explain the existence of a wise Dark Lord of the Sith.

Respect for the Difference between Knowledge and Wisdom

No philosopher is more tightly linked with wisdom than Plato. Indeed, when we think of philosophy as meaning “the love of wisdom” (philo means “love of,” and sophia is usually translated as “wisdom”), where wisdom is the virtue associated with rationality, moderation, and moral goodness, we are in fact using a definition developed by Plato. Like most philosophers of the ancient world, Plato distinguished knowledge (or gnosis in Greek) from wisdom. Knowledge is the straightforward matter of experienced information about the world: once Han Solo gets close enough to a mysterious, large object in space and registers the effect of a tractor beam, he knows that the Death Star is no moon. However, wisdom is a subtler thing: on board the Millennium Falcon, Obi-Wan doesn't know what the thing is either, but he's wise enough to exhort Han to turn the Falcon around before they're seized by a tractor beam. Plato quotes his master Socrates in the Apology as saying that “the wisest of you … is he who has realized … that in respect of wisdom he is really worthless.”¹ This ideal of wisdom rests on the virtue of humility: in the face of a universe of immense possibilities, the wisdom of a mortal creature is worth little or nothing. This is why Plato would have approved of Dexter Jettster's gentle scolding of Obi-Wan in Attack of the Clones: it was unwise to think that the knowledge contained in the Jedi Archives could ever be totally comprehensive. Unlike Jedi archivist Jocasta Nu, who somewhat proudly proclaims, “If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist,” a truly wise Jedi would know she could not know all there is to know!

Before Plato, sophia had very different meanings. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) tells us that sophia, in its original sense, meant something like discerning taste.² So the original lovers of sophia were people who had cultivated a nuanced appreciation for the finer things, perhaps like the suave scoundrel Lando Calrissian, who – despite his Bespin mining installation being infested by Imperial forces ready to abduct his friends – can't help but pause and admire Leia's beauty! During the time of Socrates and Plato, the word sophia had evolved to carry a grittier connotation, close to something like practical “know-how.”³ In this second sense, the canny and resourceful Han Solo, not Yoda, would be the wisest philosopher.

The philosophical rivals of Plato and Socrates, the Sophists, were teachers of rhetoric and masters of persuasion, adept at swaying the masses. Sophists rejected the idea that there were universal standards for things like Justice, Truth, and Beauty, arguing instead that these ideals vary greatly, depending on one's point of view. One of these Sophists, Thrasymachus, was an intimidating thinker who would've been admired by the Sith. His arguments with Socrates and Plato also give us a clear sense of why Plato would find Plagueis paradoxical. Where Plato believed that there's no way to understand justice apart from wisdom, Thrasymachus argued that there was no way to understand justice apart from power. Where Socrates and his philosophical friends struggle to find an all-encompassing definition of justice, Thrasymachus cuts through their debate by asserting forcefully that “the just is nothing else than the advantage of the stronger.”⁴

This is precisely the worldview of the Sith, for whom talk of right without might is a childish fairytale and the wise man who thinks he can somehow transcend the vagaries of power is a fool. We see the Sith follow Thrasymachus's teaching during the siege of Naboo in The Phantom Menace when Darth Sidious orders Nute Gunray to commence the Trade Federation's invasion. Expressing more concern for his own wrinkled hide than any actual ethical principles, Gunray timidly asks Sidious, “Is that legal?” Sidious hisses a reply that would've made Thrasymachus smile: “I will make it legal.” Sidious knows that the law is just a tool waiting to be used by anyone wise enough to see that there is no justice beyond power, and that enough power can make anything just. In Revenge of the Sith, when Palpatine is revealed to be Sidious and is confronted by Mace Windu, who tells him, “The Senate will decide your fate,” Sidious exclaims, “I am the Senate!” Sidious learned this philosophy of life from his master, Darth Plagueis, who long before the invasion of Naboo taught him that the Sith will triumph over the Jedi because “[t]he Sith are not placid stars but singularities. Rather than burn with a muted purpose, we warp space and time to twist the galaxy to our own design.”⁵

Plato opposed this cynical view that might makes right. He knew that Athens had transformed, from an admired city-state that had bravely turned back the massive invading forces of the Persian Empire at the battles of Salamis and Platea, into yet another despised empire that was shattered by the Spartans during the Peloponnesian War. This occurred because the Athenians were swayed to the “Dark Side” teachings of the Sophists, convincing themselves that the powerful doing as they will is not injustice, but rather “a necessary law of their nature [that] they rule wherever they can.”⁶ Plato argued that this idea ultimately destroys whomever follows it, whether an individual or an entire city-state. Instead of a notion of justice as “might makes right,” Plato sought a definition of justice that doesn't rest merely on power, but ultimately on wisdom.

“Unlimited Power!”

Plato would have admired the Code of the Jedi that brought millennia of peace and prosperity to the Galactic Republic after the Battle of Ruusan:

There is no emotion; there is peace.

There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.

There is no passion; there is serenity.

There is no death; there is the Force.

Consider now the Sith Code as taught by Dart...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgments: Legacy of the Force
• Introduction: “The Circle Is Now Complete”
• Episode I: The Philosophical Menace
• Episode II: Attack of the Morals
• Episode III: Revenge of the Alliance
• Episode IV: A New Hermeneutic
• Episode V: Metaphysics Strikes Back
• Episode VI: Return of the Non-Human
• Episode VII: The Fandom Awakens
• Contributors: Troopers of the 501st Legion
• Index
• EULA