(WARNING: It is a fact generally accepted by all Whovians that when you explain Doctor Who to anyone who has never seen the show you sound insane. That being the case I beg you to keep an open mind while reading this paper.)
Doctor Who is a fantastically successful Science Fiction television show which has been on the air since 1963. The show took a hiatus from 1989 until 2005. Most Doctor Who fans are only familiar with the series as far back as its reappearance in 2005. As such this paper will focus in on episodes from 2005 to the present. The action of the show centers around the main character who is known only as the Doctor. The Doctor is a Time Lord- an alien race from the planet Gallifrey- in fact, he is the only Time Lord. The rest of the Time Lords perished in the Time War. Since the first episode in 1963, there have been eleven Doctor’s each one played by a different actor but it is still the same character. The Doctor doesn’t die but he regenerates. That is to say that his body dies but he continues living in a brand new body. He travels through time and space in a ship called the TARDIS which looks like a police phone box. The Doctor almost always travels with one or more human companions. Obviously, the Doctor is a fairly unique individual and, as I will argue, a morally excellent individual. I will make my argument using the following criteria set down by Aristotle in his philosophical work entitled The Nicomachean Ethics: 1) A person’s moral character is determined by action not thought. 2) Human’s are distinct from other life forms by virtue of their ability to reason which allows them to be called either ethical or unethical. 3) All three kinds of pleasure are necessary to a full and rich life but the most important of these is reflection. 4) A morally excellent person will achieve the mean state of virtue. 5) A morally excellent person is capable of developing true friendships.
According to Aristotle there are two kinds of virtue: intellectual and moral. Intellectual virtue is learned through instruction and moral virtue is a result of habit. Aristotle states that “this fact makes it obvious that none of the moral virtues is engendered to us by nature, since nothing that is what it is by nature can be made to behave differently by habituation” (Aristotle 1103a). In essence, one cannot become a moral person simply by thinking about it. This is evident in Doctor Who when one compares the character of the Ninth Doctor to that of the Eleventh Doctor (present day). The Ninth Doctor has just fled from the Time War and he is very much a warrior. The Tenth Doctor says in reference to the Ninth, “[He] was born in battle full of blood and anger and revenge” (Journey’s End). That begins to change in the episode “Dalek” when the Doctor’s companion, Rose, will not let the Doctor kill the last of the Dalek’s, the Doctor’s sworn enemy. He tries to get her to step aside saying, “That thing killed hundreds of people.” She refuses and points out that “[the Dalek] is not the one pointing the gun at [her]” (Dalek). From then on the Doctor works to learn compassion from Rose. He models his actions after hers in order to become more like her. By the time the Doctor has reached his Eleventh incarnation, he is full of compassion and mercy. He tries to reason with and understand the monsters he faces throughout his travels and instead of taking joy in their defeat he says, “Sometimes winning is no fun at all” (Vincent and the Doctor). The Doctor was not born with a natural tendency towards goodness. He learned it by actively pursuing good and moral choices.
When pondering the question “what is the function of man?” Aristotle reasons that merely being alive is not enough because “life is a thing shared also by plants and we are looking for man’s proper function” (Aristotle 1097b). Nor is it a sentient life for that is “shared by horses and cattle and animals of all kinds” (Aristotle 1098a). He then concludes that “the function of man is an activity of the soul in accordance with a rational principle” (Aristotle 1098a). In other words, the thing that sets humans apart from all other life forms in the known universe is our ability to reason. This ability is shared, recognized and appreciated by the Doctor. Often the Doctor’s fate falls into the hands of his companions. Humans, unlike plants and cattle, have the ability to make logical choices in high risk situations. In the episode “Human Nature” the Tenth Doctor must change into a human and store his identity as a Time Lord in a fob watch. The task of ensuring that the Doctor is safe and does not rediscover his true identity too soon falls to Martha, his companion. The Doctor leaves many instructions for Martha. These instructions cover what is to be done in several different eventualities but they do not account for the Doctor falling in love with a human, which of course happens. It is because of Martha’s ability to reason that the Doctor and the planet Earth are saved. The Doctor himself lives a highly contemplative life. The enemies he encounters often pose deeply philosophical questions to the Doctor. In “Dalek” the Dalek asks the Doctor why it is that they, as the last Dalek and the last Time Lord, survive. Throughout the series the Doctor must cope with his identity as the last Time Lord. This issue is at the forefront of the Doctor’s mind at all times.
It is the duty of the Time Lords to ensure that fixed points in time occur as they should and prevent paradoxes from blowing up all of time and space. This is a fairly tricky job especially since the Doctor is the only Time Lord left. “So in the strict sense of the word the courageous man will be one who is fearless in the face of an honorable death, or of some sudden threat of death” (Aristotle 1115a). The Doctor only risks his life when it is for a noble cause. It just happens to be that in his line of work there is almost always a noble cause to die for. For instance, when he knew that the entire universe would fall apart and cease to exist if he did not let himself be killed (his death was a fixed point in time) he met his killer willingly. However, when his arch enemies (the Daleks) force him to go to and destroy a planet of insane Daleks who would destroy all the sane Daleks if they escaped, the Doctor is not willing to die for them. As for temperance, it is a little bit hard to tell whether the Doctor to one extreme or to the center because we never see him eat, drink, or engage in other physical pleasures. However, it is for this very reason that I would argue that the Doctor displays the mean of temperance for since he is never seen engaging in physical pleasures it is clear that they are not his soul motivator. At the same time he does speak of past experiences with physical pleasure so we know that he is not averse to them. In the Eleventh Hour we see that the Doctor does not “eat or drink indiscriminately until [he] is full to bursting” (Aristotle 1118b). He does not eat what he does not like and when he finds what he does like he only satisfies “the natural desire [which] is merely a replenishment of the deficiency” (Aristotle 1118b). Since Aristotle places courage and temperance as the two most important virtues I will leave it at that. So much for our discussion of the Doctor’s virtues.
Aristotle believed that the pleasures in life could be sorted into three categories: the physical, the social, and the contemplative. The physical is concerned with things such as food, drink, and sex while the social has to do with the pursuit of honor and status. The contemplative is the greatest of all three pleasures for it is where we exercise our unique ability to reason. However, it is heavily implied in Aristotle’s Ethics that all three pleasures are required for a full and rich life. The Doctor flies around all of space and time experiencing the truly magnificent and awe inspiring things that the universe has to offer. Needless to say he does value physical pleasure but when he is alone the pleasure is greatly lessened. When he asks Amy Pond to travel with him and she asks why he responds that he has “been knocking around on [his] own for a while. [It was his] my choice but [he’s] started talking to [himself] all the time its giving [him] an earache” (The Eleventh Hour). He only uses the physical pleasures as a way to enhance the social pleasures. Yet social pleasure is not the final goal for the Doctor. The Doctor grew up among the Time Lords who were coarse and unfeeling people. He wants to move away from that and become more human. As I have mentioned before, the Doctor learns this humanity from his companions. The Doctor’s ultimate goal is to realize his own goodness by contemplating that which is good in the universe.
Aristotle had many ideas about friendship and how it is created. First he said that there are three basic kinds of friendship: 1) those formed out of people’s mutual usefulness, 2) those formed out of a mutual pleasure in one another’s company, and 3) those formed out of mutual goodness. Aristotle claims that of the three of these “only the friendship of those who are good, and similar in their goodness, is perfect” (Aristotle 1156b). These friendships are quite difficult to achieve. They do not spring up premade as soon as two good people cross paths, “nor can one man accept another, or the two become friends, until each has proved to the other that he is worthy of love and so has won his trust” (Aristotle 1156b). The Doctor chooses his companions very carefully for a couple of reasons which we have already discussed: 1) They may need to save the world or even the universe at some point. 2) The Doctor needs to pick the best of humanity to learn from. It is clear from these facts that the Doctor’s friendships also fall into the categories of useful and pleasurable but that is as it should be for a perfect friendship should have what is good about the other kinds of friendships plus its own virtue. When the Doctor meets Amy Pond she is a young child. The TARDIS brings him to her because there is a crack in the skin of the universe that happens to run through Amy’s bedroom. Amy tells him about the crack in her wall and the Doctor remarks, “You’re not scared of anything. Box falls out of the sky man falls out of the box man eats fish custard and look at you just sitting there. So you know what I think. That must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall” (The Eleventh Hour). The Doctor sees this as an indication that Amy may be a good candidate for true companionship. By the end of the episode (which spans several years in Amy’s life), Amy has indeed helped the Doctor save Earth from aliens. Even so it is not until the next episode that Amy and the Doctor prove to each other that they are fit for true friendship.
The Doctor lives a life in which he enjoys immense power and freedom. This is a highly dangerous combination in large quantities. The fact that the Doctor is not power mad is in itself a strong indication of a morally excellent being. However the Doctor goes several steps further and uses his advantages to protect the whole of space and time while at the same time trying to better himself by actively pursuing goodness though a contemplative life. After 1200 years of life, he is still dedicated to the goodness on the universe. This is moral excellence.
Works Cited
Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2004. Print.
“Dalek.” Doctor Who. BBC. London. 30 April. 2005. Television.
“Journey’s End.” Doctor Who. BBC. London. 5 Jul. 2008. Television.
“The Eleventh Hour.” Doctor Who. BBC. London. 3 April. 2010. Television.
“Vincent and the Doctor.” Doctor Who. BBC. London. 5 June. 2010. Television.