Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough by William Irwin, Michel S. Beaulieu Page A
Authors: William Irwin, Michel S. Beaulieu
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philosophers Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), and Aristotle (384-322 BCE) would say about the lives lived by the protagonists of the Final Fantasy computer games and in particular about the lives chosen by players of Final Fantasy XI Online .
Hobbes vs. the Hobgoblins
Citizens, unite! Come to the light. . . . Real happiness can be found in obedience to the company.
—President Shinra, Final Fantasy VII
Hobbes believed that the fundamental moral rule is that people should act in their own self-interest. He thought that you have no moral obligation to help other people unless helping them will benefit you in the long run, and whether you harm someone else is irrelevant except insofar as he or she might harm you back. So, for example, it would be immoral to mug a Tarutaru and take its gils if you are likely to get caught, but mugging the Tarutaru would be the right thing to do if you could get away with it. Philosophers call the view that we should do whatever is in our best interests “moral egoism.”
All of this might make Hobbes sound like an anarchist, but in fact, he thought that it was in people’s best interests to live in obedience to an absolute monarch. Most monarchists of Hobbes’s day believed that a monarch’s authority comes from God, but Hobbes maintained that it comes from the monarch’s own subjects. The subjects are considered to be partners in a social contract with one another, in which they mutually agree to give up certain freedoms, in the interest of the common good. In particular, they agree to be ruled by a king, on the grounds that only such a powerful central authority can keep order and peace. Because order and peace are in everyone’s best interests, it is in everyone’s interests to make sure that he or she obeys the king’s law and does nothing to undermine the king’s authority. After all, where there is no law and no authority, everyone is in danger from everyone else. To take an example from Final Fantasy , even a badass like Cloud Strife has to sleep sometime, and when he does, he could be murdered by any weakling unless someone else is watching out for him. Hobbes called this lawless alternative to monarchy “the state of nature” and said that life under it is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short,” a “war of every man against every man.” 1 Hobbes believed that the very worst form of disobedience to the monarch was to rebel against him or her, because even the worst monarchies are preferable to the horrors that occur during civil war. If Hobbes’s philosophy interests you, I recommend his book Leviathan. 2
Hobbes would think that most of the protagonists of the solo Final Fantasy games are fools. After all, he thought that our guiding concern in life should be personal self-interest, and if there is one thing the protagonists of the solo Final Fantasy games are known for, it is putting aside self-interest. In fact, they tend to devote their lives to the well-being of other people. The very first Final Fantasy game focuses on four adventurers striving to return the world’s elements to a state of balance, the second on four adventurers striving to save the world from conquest at the hands of the evil dictator Palamecia, the third on four adventurers seeking to return balance again, while the fourth through tenth are respectively about Heroes striving to save the world from the Warrior Golbez, the Wizard Exdeath, the dictator Gestahl, the mastermind Sephiroth, the Sorceress Edea, the warmongering Queen Brahne, and the giant monster Sin. The most recent solo game, Final Fantasy XII , is similarly themed. It’s about a small group of adventurers standing up against the might of the evil Archadian Empire. The Heroes of Final Fantasy are so altruistic that Hobbes would be disgusted at their obsessive dedication to promoting the common good.
You might think that I’m being naive about the motives of the Heroes here. After all, even though
Hobbes vs. the Hobgoblins
Citizens, unite! Come to the light. . . . Real happiness can be found in obedience to the company.
—President Shinra, Final Fantasy VII
Hobbes believed that the fundamental moral rule is that people should act in their own self-interest. He thought that you have no moral obligation to help other people unless helping them will benefit you in the long run, and whether you harm someone else is irrelevant except insofar as he or she might harm you back. So, for example, it would be immoral to mug a Tarutaru and take its gils if you are likely to get caught, but mugging the Tarutaru would be the right thing to do if you could get away with it. Philosophers call the view that we should do whatever is in our best interests “moral egoism.”
All of this might make Hobbes sound like an anarchist, but in fact, he thought that it was in people’s best interests to live in obedience to an absolute monarch. Most monarchists of Hobbes’s day believed that a monarch’s authority comes from God, but Hobbes maintained that it comes from the monarch’s own subjects. The subjects are considered to be partners in a social contract with one another, in which they mutually agree to give up certain freedoms, in the interest of the common good. In particular, they agree to be ruled by a king, on the grounds that only such a powerful central authority can keep order and peace. Because order and peace are in everyone’s best interests, it is in everyone’s interests to make sure that he or she obeys the king’s law and does nothing to undermine the king’s authority. After all, where there is no law and no authority, everyone is in danger from everyone else. To take an example from Final Fantasy , even a badass like Cloud Strife has to sleep sometime, and when he does, he could be murdered by any weakling unless someone else is watching out for him. Hobbes called this lawless alternative to monarchy “the state of nature” and said that life under it is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short,” a “war of every man against every man.” 1 Hobbes believed that the very worst form of disobedience to the monarch was to rebel against him or her, because even the worst monarchies are preferable to the horrors that occur during civil war. If Hobbes’s philosophy interests you, I recommend his book Leviathan. 2
Hobbes would think that most of the protagonists of the solo Final Fantasy games are fools. After all, he thought that our guiding concern in life should be personal self-interest, and if there is one thing the protagonists of the solo Final Fantasy games are known for, it is putting aside self-interest. In fact, they tend to devote their lives to the well-being of other people. The very first Final Fantasy game focuses on four adventurers striving to return the world’s elements to a state of balance, the second on four adventurers striving to save the world from conquest at the hands of the evil dictator Palamecia, the third on four adventurers seeking to return balance again, while the fourth through tenth are respectively about Heroes striving to save the world from the Warrior Golbez, the Wizard Exdeath, the dictator Gestahl, the mastermind Sephiroth, the Sorceress Edea, the warmongering Queen Brahne, and the giant monster Sin. The most recent solo game, Final Fantasy XII , is similarly themed. It’s about a small group of adventurers standing up against the might of the evil Archadian Empire. The Heroes of Final Fantasy are so altruistic that Hobbes would be disgusted at their obsessive dedication to promoting the common good.
You might think that I’m being naive about the motives of the Heroes here. After all, even though
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