A. Luke wants to be a Jedi Knight, but Yoda refuses because he craves excitement and adventure
B. A necessary part of becoming a Jedi is to have a wise and experienced teacher
1. Having a teacher is a privilege, not an entitlement
2. A teacher will examine one’s mental attitudes before accepting him
C. The path will require patience and will be long and difficult
II. The Old Republic and the Older Republic
A. Ultimate Aims of a Jedi
1. Peace
2. Justice
B. The Old Republic compares to Plato’s Republic, in that the both
1. Suggest that a group of warriors or Jedi Knights and a group of Guardians or Jedi Master protect the people
2. Require a long rigorous process of training specifically in virtue ethics
3. Involve a series of interplay between teacher and student to develop learning skills and mental health
4. Entail a period of intense physical training to strengthen not only the body but also the mind and to develop virtues of
a. Courage
b. Endurance (which requires self-control)
c. Discipline
d. Persistence
III. A Balancing Act
A. Yoda requires Luke to balance him on Luke’s feet so Luke can be aware of his surroundings
B. Aristotle defines virtue as the mean or the balance between excess and deficiency
1. Too much fear leads to cowardice such as when Chewie ran from the Dianoga
2. Too little fear can lead to rashness such as when Anakin rushed headlong to confront Count Dooku
C. The fear from making decisions comes from lack of complete information such as when Luke knows his friends are in danger
1. If he helps them, he may be in danger
2. If he does not help them, they may die
D. Luke decides to save his friends, and Aristotle agrees with Luke’s courageous act because there are both
1. A final decision
2. Just cause
E. The battle of anger requires reason to stand up to fear and to act courageously
F. Jedi’s need to control their anger or they turn to the Dark Side, such as Darth Vader, and they need to act not from fear or anger but with reason dictating
IV. Entering the Deep, Dark Cave
A. Luke struggles to differentiate a lack of self-knowledge and a lack of self-control when he enters the cave to find out his greatest fear
1. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
2. The need to attain a vision of the Good, Plato’s highest principle
B. When Luke decapitates the imaginary Darth Vader, he realizes his greatest fear is becoming evil, and he is now free from self-ignorance
C. Luke overcomes anger by seeing the good in his father and shows the virtues of
1. Forgiveness
2. Compassion
D. A Jedi requires integrity to resist temptation that stems from self-knowledge of one’s own fears
V. The Right Kind of Love
A. Compassion is another virtue of a Jedi, but there are two kinds of love
1. “Unconditional Love”- the love required of a Jedi
2. Romantic Love- the love between Anakin and Padme
B. Private possessions or attachments can deter from wholehearted devotion to
serving the public good, as explicitly described by Plato in his Republic
C. Action on erotic love could lead to the collapse of an entire galaxy, such as when Anakin wanted to save Padme after she fell out of the gunship
D. Loyalty stems from compassion that entails an unwavering commitment to the people one values, such as the Jedi’s promise to serve innocent people
VI. Is Brainwashing Ethically Sanitary?
A. Using the force requires concentration, which would be a perfectly acceptable practice
B. Mind control
1. In the example of Obi-Wan Kenobi influencing a young drug pusher to
go home and rethink his life, Jedis have to ability to control the weak-minded
2. Plato sympathizes with this belief by creating a myth for people, and he uses their imaginations to acquire unity of society
C. The weak-minded are, such as in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, being
manipulated by powerful figures to achieve self-gain, so the Jedis use mind-control to persuade people to work for the common good
VII. The Jedi Model
A. A Jedi possesses these virtues
1. Courage
2. Loyalty
3. Compassion
4. Justice
5. Forgiveness
6. Honor-to live by a set of principles or a code (Jedi Code)
7. Nobility-a desire for moral excellence
8. Persuasion of people to work for the common good
B. Being a Jedi requires a lot of hard work, but virtue triumphs according to Star Wars and ancient Greek philosophers
