Jean-Luc Picard, Kant, and Morality: an Ethical Examination of the Deontological Element of the Prime Directive

Jean-Luc Picard, Kant, and Morality: An Ethical Examination of the Deontological Element of the Prime Directive BY ANDREW T. VINK This paper explores the ethical implications of the aspect of the Star Trek universe known as the Prime Directive. The first section outlines the particulars of the directive and how they act as a guiding principle for Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the central protagonist of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The second section describes the underlying moral assumptions of the Prime Directive, showing them to be an example of a Kantian maxim. Finally, the conclusion illustrates how the Kantian deontological system fails to stand up to scrutiny on the basis of the Prime Directive. Part I: Explaining the Prime Directive Space . the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.1 These words began the renewal of a journey into the 24th century when Captain Jean-Luc Picard took control of the Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) in 1987. In keeping with the traditions of the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk, Commander Spock, and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy of The Original Series, throughout his tenure as captain of the Enterprise, Picard is faced with ethical challenges that require great moral reasoning and the developed virtue of prudence. One challenge that is quite consistent throughout Picard’s mission is the moral conflict with Starfleet General Order One, more commonly known as the Prime Directive. The Prime directive, at its core, is a rule of non-interference. According to Memory Alpha, an online Star Trek encyclopedia, the Prime Directive has a more specific agenda than simply non-interference: The Directive states that members of Starfleet are not to interfere in the internal affairs of another species, especially the natural development of pre-warp civilizations, either by 1 “Encounter at Farpoint,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, directed by Corey Allen, First-run Syndication, September 28, 1987. Valley Humanities Review Spring 2010 1 direct intervention, or technological revelation. Originally, the Directive was a shield for primitive worlds. If such a world was in danger, Starfleet had been known to order ships to save that world. The Directive was later amended, prohibiting Starfleet officers from intervening even if non-intervention would result in the extinction of an entire species or the end of all life on a planet or star system. By the 24th century, the Federation had begun applying the Prime Directive to warp-capable species. .2 While such a definition makes perfect sense to Trekkies around the world, it requires some translation and context for those not familiar with the world created by Gene Roddenberry. The United Federation of Planets, or Federation for short, is an advanced society on a technological and, supposedly, moral level. While the Federation sends its space exploration and military force, called Starfleet, to explore galaxies unknown, it does not wish to interfere with the development of “inferior cultures,” and avoids the mistakes made in human history during the Western Imperialism of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. To prevent this, the order was given to not interfere with the development of primitive cultures normally determined by the benchmark of warp technology, which allows a spacecraft to travel faster than the speed of light. By the 24th century, the era of Captain Picard, the Prime Directive was revised to prevent interference in any species’ internal affairs, even if they are capable of space travel at warp speed. An example of this strict non-interference policy is demonstrated in TNG 123: “Symbiosis.”3 The primary conflict in the episode is when the Enterprise picks up humanoids from the planets Brekka and Ornara who are arguing over a remedy to the plague from which the Ornarians are suffering. Over the course of the episode, it is revealed that this plague is nothing more than a physical and psychological addiction to the remedy, which is discovered by Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher to be little more than a narcotic. The Ornarians are being exploited by the Brekkians and forced to trade their goods for a narcotic presented to them as a treatment for a non-existent plague. Picard is unable, however, to inform the Ornarians of this discovery due to the Prime Directive. Unable to rectify the situation in that 2 Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki, s.v. “Prime Directive,” http://memory- alpha.org/en/wiki/Prime_Directive. 3 The episodes are numbered in the production format. The first digit indicates the season, in this case, Season 1. The second and third digits indicate the episode number. Therefore, the notation should read: “The Next Generation, Season 1, Episode 23: “Symbiosis.” 2 way, he also cites the Prime Directive as the reason for not being able to give the Ornarians parts to repair their space freighters, therefore preventing them from continuing the trade that abets their addiction. Captain Picard justifies this decision to Dr. Crusher, who is still uncertain that this was the right choice: PICARD: Beverly, the Prime Directive is not just a set of rules. It is a philosophy, and a very correct one. History has proved again and again when humanity interferes with a less developed civilization, no matter how well-intentioned that interference may be, the results are invariably disastrous. CRUSHER: It’s hard to be philosophical when faced with suffering. PICARD: Believe me, Beverly, there was only one decision. CRUSHER: I just hope it was the right one. PICARD: And we may never know. 4 This conclusion reached by Picard is the essence of the Prime Directive: an order of non- interference so that cultures in their infancy may flourish without the intrusion of foreign races and technologies which they would not be able to handle in the early stages of their development. This duty is the core of a lot of hard decisions made in the Star Trek universe, making it a worthy object of contemplation and critique. Part II: The Deontological Background of the Prime Directive (or the Wrath of Kant) In order to engage in a proper analysis, one must first delve into the ethical assumptions of the Prime Directive. One of the suppositions inferred from the Directive is that, according to Starfleet, there is no universal truth that spans cultures. If this were the case, it would be acceptable to interfere in a genocide, which could be easily stopped with the superior technology of a Galaxy-class starship such as the Enterprise, or to help relieve a famine that threatened the extinction of a planet’s population, which could also be easily solved with the Federation’s capability of changing energy into matter. Therefore, one aspect of the Prime Directive is that it supports cultural relativism. Another assumption that can be drawn from the Prime Directive is that it claims interference of any kind with another culture will always result in disaster. The dialogue between Picard and Crusher above emphasizes this concept particularly well. This leads to two 4 “Symbiosis,” Star Trek: The Next Generation, Directed by Win Phelps, First-run Syndication, April 18, 1988. 3 possible interpretations. One is that no good can ever come of any intervention, which is untrue. If Picard were to end a famine, the good of preserving life would come of it, no matter what else followed. The second interpretation is that both good and evil can result from interfering in another culture. It then becomes a matter of how one interprets this action. It could be a matter of either doing evil so that good may come of it, or accepting the evil as a consequence of an otherwise upright action. The Directive is vague on this issue, but it appears that the spirit of the Directive follows a line of thought that any action that could possibly yield evil should not be taken. With the two previously mentioned assumptions in mind, along with the universal nature of the order itself, the Prime Directive is an example of Kantian, or deontological, ethics at work. According to Immanuel Kant, an ethical system which is based on reason alone must be one that has duty at its center. To discern a duty, Kant uses the method of universalizing maxims. He explains: Since I have deprived the will of every impulse that might arise for it from obeying any particular law, there is nothing left to serve the will as principle except the universal conformity of its actions to the law as such, i.e., I should never act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law.5 This method, known as the Categorical Imperative, attempts to make moral actions universally acceptable, without concern for the particulars of a situation. This concept mirrors the reasoning behind the Prime Directive in the notion that if one cannot interfere with a culture without disastrous side effects, then it is not morally acceptable to interfere at all. The Prime Directive works as the centerpiece of a deontological system that Starfleet has designed and by which its officers must abide. Since it is the primary maxim that must be obeyed above all others, it sets the tone and creates the lens through which all judgments are made. Therefore, the Directive must be examined as a normative claim about this version of deontological ethics. Part III: The Critique of the Directive 5 Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. James W.

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