angas In 1513, the Italian diplomat, writer, and philosopher Niccoló Machiavelli released his political treatise titled De Principatibus, or The Prince. His book not only formed the basis for political science and is considered one of the first works of modern philosophy, but also stressed many ideas that remain controversial in modern day politics. One of the more prominent ideas in Machiavelli’s masterpiece is that the ends of one’s actions justify how they got there. This idea that someone’s accomplishments rationalize how they got there has been present in both film and literature for hundreds of years. Although created centuries apart, two works that spark frequent discussion of Machiavelli's controversial ideas are the Greek tragedy
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In both the play Oedipus the King and the film Minority Report, the ends justify the means.
The first piece of literature that displays the ends justifying the means is Oedipus the King by Sophocles. In the classic work of Greek literature, the ends are that Thebes is no longer a city in which “A fever-demon wastes the town and decimates with fire, stalking hated through the emptied house where Cadmus dwelled” (Sophocles 6). Rather, Thebes has returned to its former glory, ruled by Creon and void of any plagues. However, getting there was not as pleasant as one might hope. During the process of restoring the city, Oedipus not only found out that his whole life has been shaped by lies, but that he also murdered his father and just married his mother. One might say that what happened to Oedipus was not …show more content…
In the film, the ends, or results, are exposing Lamar Burgess and freeing innocent people, and the means through which this was achieved was by ending the PreCrime department. Doing so is controversial mainly because of what the PreCogs had done for the city, not only saving countless lives but also reducing the murder rate to zero percent. However, abandoning the department was justified by what was accomplished in doing so. Mainly because of the questionable ethics of the PreCrime program. The validity of the PreCogs is represented well during an early scene in the film, where Danny Witwer catches a ball that was about to roll off a table, and after saying that it would have fallen no matter what, Anderton tells him, “But it didn’t fall. You caught it. The fact that you prevented it from happening doesn’t change the fact that it was going to happen” (Spielberg, Minority Report). However, later in the movie it is told that if one is aware of their destiny, they can alter it. By having such a large gray area of if the PreCog’s predictions should deem one guilty or not, the system is proven unethical, and was imprisoning innocent people in the process. The means were also justified because of the vulnerability of the system itself. Not only were the PreCog’s visions susceptible to being changed, but it was also simple enough to get away with without the
In both the play Oedipus the King and the film Minority Report, the ends justify the means.
The first piece of literature that displays the ends justifying the means is Oedipus the King by Sophocles. In the classic work of Greek literature, the ends are that Thebes is no longer a city in which “A fever-demon wastes the town and decimates with fire, stalking hated through the emptied house where Cadmus dwelled” (Sophocles 6). Rather, Thebes has returned to its former glory, ruled by Creon and void of any plagues. However, getting there was not as pleasant as one might hope. During the process of restoring the city, Oedipus not only found out that his whole life has been shaped by lies, but that he also murdered his father and just married his mother. One might say that what happened to Oedipus was not …show more content…
In the film, the ends, or results, are exposing Lamar Burgess and freeing innocent people, and the means through which this was achieved was by ending the PreCrime department. Doing so is controversial mainly because of what the PreCogs had done for the city, not only saving countless lives but also reducing the murder rate to zero percent. However, abandoning the department was justified by what was accomplished in doing so. Mainly because of the questionable ethics of the PreCrime program. The validity of the PreCogs is represented well during an early scene in the film, where Danny Witwer catches a ball that was about to roll off a table, and after saying that it would have fallen no matter what, Anderton tells him, “But it didn’t fall. You caught it. The fact that you prevented it from happening doesn’t change the fact that it was going to happen” (Spielberg, Minority Report). However, later in the movie it is told that if one is aware of their destiny, they can alter it. By having such a large gray area of if the PreCog’s predictions should deem one guilty or not, the system is proven unethical, and was imprisoning innocent people in the process. The means were also justified because of the vulnerability of the system itself. Not only were the PreCog’s visions susceptible to being changed, but it was also simple enough to get away with without the