Star Wars and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy Series) - Kevin Decker [10]
In our own lives it’s important to ask which “forces” are attempting to bend our will. What desires have the potential to become “inordinate” and be allowed to take over our will? And we must also be conscious of the control we have over our own will and desires. Even if there’s an eternal observer keeping watch over us or a puppetmaster pulling the universe’s strings around us, we can pull our own strings and thereby determine what the eternal observer knows and limit what the puppetmaster can accomplish. We are radically free and thus responsible for what we choose to will. And since my wife is still out with “the girls,” I think I’ll exercise my radical freedom to watch Attack of the Clones and wake up the neighbors, comfortable in the knowledge that Que sera, sera . . . Whatever will be, will be.17
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Stoicism in the Stars: Yoda, the Emperor, and the Force
WILLIAM O. STEPHENS
Stoicism is the ancient Greek philosophy that originated in the third century B.C.E. in the “Stoa” or porch where Zeno of Citium taught in Athens. Stoicism counsels acting virtuously and without emotional disturbance while living in harmony with fate. But why care about Stoicism today? For one thing, Zeno’s followers, the Stoics, exerted enormous influence on Roman culture, Christianity, and Western philosophy for centuries. Today, Stoicism continues to receive a lot of attention from philosophers, 18 novelists,19 soldier-politicians,20 and psychologists.21 This is because Stoic ideas provide an effective strategy for addressing conflicts and kinds of adversity faced in the real world. Star Wars fans too can benefit from some Stoicism.
Understanding the Force is key to understanding the Star Wars universe since how the Force is conceived, used, or ignored by the characters goes a long way to determining their identities, allegiances, and goals. What is it that makes the Force and the discipline necessary to master it so compelling to figures like Luke, Yoda, and the Emperor? Stoicism helps reveal both the logic of the Light Side of the Force and the logic of the Dark Side. How Yoda and the Emperor understand the Force radically shapes their moral characters and drives their actions. A brief study of Stoicism will allow us to understand why Yoda and the Emperor can each be so devoted to contrary sides of the Force.
Appearance versus Reality: Jester or Jedi Master?
When Luke and Artoo arrive on Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back, Luke instinctively brandishes his blaster when they are startled by an unthreatening, wizened, olive-skinned dwarf clad in rags. “Away put your weapon! I mean you no harm,” the cringing dwarf pleads. With his quirky sense of humor, Yoda remarks that Luke has found someone, though Luke doesn’t realize he has found the very Jedi master he is looking for. But while this puny goblin assures Luke he can help him, Luke doubts him. Luke explains that he is looking for a great warrior. Laughing, Yoda responds: “Wars not make one great.” This remark is ironic since “yoda” is Sanskrit for “warrior.” Yoda certainly looks nothing like a great warrior.
Yoda then acts like a silly beggar. He finds, nibbles on, and discards an untasty snack bar in Luke’s supplies. When he fights over a tiny power lamp with Artoo, Yoda looks even sillier. Luke is impatient to find the Jedi master, but the goofy goblin wants to eat first. So our first impression of Yoda is of a solitary, harmless, vulnerable, shabby, hungry geezer with a quirky sense of humor and an odd manner of speech. Yoda’s appearance inspires no awe at all.
Contrast this image with the first appearance of Darth Vader in A New Hope and the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. Moments after the first wave of stormtroopers, all clad in white armor, have blasted their way