Socrates, Sartre And Men Against Fire

The philosophers, Freud, Socrates, Aristotle, and Sartre, all have different connections with the show Black Mirror episode “Men Against Fire.” Throughout the show there is examples of Freud’s concept of the unconscious, Socrates’ argument of “the unexamined life not being worth living,” Aristotle’s understanding of voluntary action, and Sartre's concept of bad faith. The show from the Black Mirror episode “Men Against Fire” can be analyzed to explain and support the position to theses philosophers.
In the show Black Mirror episode, “Men Against Fire,” there were villagers who didn’t have the implants like the soldiers did. The soldiers had an implants which made them see what was known as roaches as some type of monsters. The villager were …show more content…
Socrates believed that we should all question everything in life, to be aware of things. In the ancient Greek Court of Law, Socrate had a trail where he was being accused for three things. He was apparently corrupting the youth, making the weaker argument, stronger, he also denied the existence of the gods. He was the wisest man in Athens because he would admit that he doesn’t know anything. Now in the show Black Mirror episode, “Men Against Fire,” Stripe realized that everything he thought to be real was all a lie. Roaches were unwanted by everyone. The reason why was because they had something in their DNA which made them different from everyone else. The main focus for the army was to kill/ get rid of all the roaches. The implante Stripe had was controlling a lot of his senses. This didn’t just apply to Stripe, this also includes the whole army. The difference between Stripe and Socrates is that Stripe didn’t question things in his life like Socrates did. He should of question his implante when he noticed his partner was killing normal people which were once known as roaches to him. She herself was claiming that they were roaches, which should of made it obvious to him that there was something wrong in his implate. In the Plato’s Apology, Socrates stated, "are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of life which is likely to bring you to an untimely end? …show more content…
In the show Black Mirror episode, “Men Against Fire,” when Stripe is agreeing to getting the implant, you can tell that he isn’t really aware to what he is agreeing to. He also seems very careless about knowing the effects of the implate. According to another Greek philosopher named Aristotle, his actions must be involuntary through ignorance. The implate determined Stripes actions. Although Stripe was fully there, the implant had him doing things he wouldn’t do without it. For example, killing the innocent human beings called roaches. The army would be responsible because of what the implants do, they didn’t make a huge effort to educate him to what he was getting himself into leading it to be involuntary through ignorance for Stripe but an voluntary action for the army. A perfect quote from Aristotle is, “Everything caused by ignorance is involuntary, but what is involuntary also involves pain and regret” (1110b). Stripe regretted and felt pain for what he has done but it was involuntary action through ignorance. Stripe was given the opportunity to continue being in the army and forget what he has done to the innocent people and of course he chose the easiest route for him. He couldn’t live with the guilt. He started his choose as involuntary though ignorance and ended up with an voluntary