I’d argue the opposite. The writer is so opposed to the idea of moral reasoning that he thinks that no normal human being would ever use it. However, he’s trying to make the Doctor look alien. Something that nobody would ever do, but has a plausible-sounding justification, is ideal to show that the Doctor is an alien.
Also, this explains why the show is so inconsistent on such things. The right thing to do when the moon is a giant egg and hatching has a chance of destroying the Earth is to kill it. It’s one life against (billions * probability of the world being destroyed), which is at least one life against millions. The Doctor decided that what we should do (after giving a fake “free” choice to Clara) is to not kill the fat man^H^H^Hmoon. Instead we should take the risk of everyone dying. When you throw in things to make the Doctor look alien, you can just easily throw in a too-sentimental act as you can throw in a too-utilitarian act.
In fact, the Doctor often acts as if he’s in a TV show and is aware that million to one chances work nine times out of ten. You often see the Doctor say “I’m not going to doom innocents to save a greater number” and something saves everyone anyway, but you never see the Doctor say “I’m not going to doom innocents to save a greater number” and discover that since he didn’t doom the innocents, the greater number died.
(The Doctor does often accept and even act callous about inevitable death, but that’s different from the case where he or a protagonist personally has to cause the death.)
You often see the Doctor say “I’m not going to doom innocents to save a greater number” and something saves everyone anyway
I find that undermines a lot of enjoyment for me. A Hard Choice is presented, the Doctor does something that seems deontologically virtuous but consequentially absurd, and then deus ex machina the consequences of the Hard Choice are wiped away.
Perhaps he knows he is living in a just universe where moral realism proves deontology correct, and ignoring consequentialism leads to the best consequences. Depending on the writer.
Well, if you want to write a fictional scenario in which deontology proves better than consequentialism, you kinda have to make the consequences of the deontological decision better than those of the consequentialist one. I agree that it’s ironic, though, to be justifying deontology on consequentialist grounds (it saved more lives in the end, ha!).
I’d argue the opposite. The writer is so opposed to the idea of moral reasoning that he thinks that no normal human being would ever use it. However, he’s trying to make the Doctor look alien. Something that nobody would ever do, but has a plausible-sounding justification, is ideal to show that the Doctor is an alien.
Also, this explains why the show is so inconsistent on such things. The right thing to do when the moon is a giant egg and hatching has a chance of destroying the Earth is to kill it. It’s one life against (billions * probability of the world being destroyed), which is at least one life against millions. The Doctor decided that what we should do (after giving a fake “free” choice to Clara) is to not kill the fat man^H^H^Hmoon. Instead we should take the risk of everyone dying. When you throw in things to make the Doctor look alien, you can just easily throw in a too-sentimental act as you can throw in a too-utilitarian act.
In fact, the Doctor often acts as if he’s in a TV show and is aware that million to one chances work nine times out of ten. You often see the Doctor say “I’m not going to doom innocents to save a greater number” and something saves everyone anyway, but you never see the Doctor say “I’m not going to doom innocents to save a greater number” and discover that since he didn’t doom the innocents, the greater number died.
(The Doctor does often accept and even act callous about inevitable death, but that’s different from the case where he or a protagonist personally has to cause the death.)
I find that undermines a lot of enjoyment for me. A Hard Choice is presented, the Doctor does something that seems deontologically virtuous but consequentially absurd, and then deus ex machina the consequences of the Hard Choice are wiped away.
Perhaps he knows he is living in a just universe where moral realism proves deontology correct, and ignoring consequentialism leads to the best consequences. Depending on the writer.
Well, if you want to write a fictional scenario in which deontology proves better than consequentialism, you kinda have to make the consequences of the deontological decision better than those of the consequentialist one. I agree that it’s ironic, though, to be justifying deontology on consequentialist grounds (it saved more lives in the end, ha!).