![]() Once we see the relationship and potential harmony between reason and emotion, we can see that Spock’s claim that being logical is (or can be) at odds with being human makes no sense. It is possible for a person’s values to be out of line with his rational judgment, but in such cases his rational judgment remains his means of knowledge, and his emotions should take a backseat until he reassesses his values and brings them back into line with his logical assessment of the facts. In this case, Kirk’s emotional ties to Spock aligned with his logical evaluation of Spock’s value to him. In regard to the Star Trek example, the reason Kirk was right to help Spock is not that doing so was “human” as against “logical” rather, he was right to help Spock because, given the immense value that Spock is to Kirk, both as a friend and as a colleague, and given that the mission to help Spock was feasible, helping him was the logical and thus human thing to do. Our means of knowledge is reason, the use of observation and logic. Our emotions, though real and important, are not a means of knowledge they are automatic reactions to experiences in relation to our value judgments. (Various other species have an emotional capacity as well, but our values are chosen, so even on this score we are substantially different.) We also have the capacity to experience emotions, which are automatic responses to our experiences in relation to our values. Obviously, we also have the capacity to be illogical, but that is because our rational faculty also entails volition, the power to choose to think or not to think. Our capacity to use logic, to integrate the evidence of our senses in a noncontradictory way, is part of our rational faculty-the very faculty that makes us human. In logic, (a) there can be no divide between acting logically and acting human and (b) as Ayn Rand discovered and explained, the needs of the individual are what give rise to the need and possibility of value judgments to begin with. This is the alleged reconciliation of the apparently conflicting ideas with which we started.īut this logically is not a reconciliation at all. So Spock, Kirk, and Spock’s mother have affirmed the idea that acting logically and acting “human” can be at odds-and that acting logically means always putting the needs of the many first. ![]() ![]() Kirk asks, “Is this the logical thing to do?” Spock answers, “No, but it is the human thing to do.” Although Spock reaffirms his claim that the needs of the many logically outweigh the needs of the few, he suggests that sometimes we must do the “human” thing, not the logical thing, and put the needs of the few (or the one) first. Later in the film, when crewman Chekov is in trouble, Spock insists that the crew save him, even at risk of jeopardizing the crew’s vital mission to save Earth and everyone on it. She replies, “Then you are here because of a mistake-your friends have given their future to save you.” (The crew had broken the law and had gone on the run in order to rescue Spock.) Spock says that humans are sometimes illogical his mother answers, “They are, indeed!” At the beginning of this film, Spock’s mother, who is human (his father is Vulcan), asks him whether he still believes that, by logic, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. We find an answer in the next film, The Voyage Home (1986). Kirk answers, “Because the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.” This is, as Spock might say, a fascinating reversal of the message in the previous film. Once restored, Spock asks Kirk why the crew saved him. In the next film, The Search for Spock (1984), the crew of the Enterprise discovers that Spock is not actually dead, that his body and soul survive separately, and that it may be possible to rejoin them-which the crew proceeds to do. ” Kirk finishes for him, “The needs of the few.” Spock replies, “Or the one.” Spock quickly perishes, and, with his final breaths, says to Kirk, “Don't grieve, Admiral. With the Enterprise (ship) in imminent danger of destruction, Spock enters a highly radioactive chamber in order to fix the ship’s drive so the crew can escape danger. In The Wrath of Khan (1982), Spock says, “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Captain Kirk answers, “Or the one.” This sets up a pivotal scene near the end of the film (spoilers follow). Let’s first consider some instances and the relevant contexts. This claim is made in various scenes in the films, including in the latest one. With this week’s DVD release of Star Trek into Darkness, now is a good time to evaluate or reevaluate the oft-stated Star Trek claim, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” (or “the one”).
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