Star Wars and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy Series) - Kevin Decker [4]
These scenes raise particularly interesting philosophical questions concerning freedom and moral responsibility.4 What does it mean for Anakin to be the Chosen One? Is it possible for him to fail to fulfill the prophecy? Is Anakin predestined to fall to the Dark Side and become Darth Vader? Must Luke unavoidably shoulder the burden of saving the galaxy? Or, does Anakin choose to ally himself with the Emperor? Could Luke have chosen to remain on Tatooine and live out his life tending his uncle’s moisture farm instead of going with Obi-Wan?
“Clouded This Boy’s Future Is”
Anakin Skywalker’s destiny seems to have been set for him since before he was even born. “Who was his father?” asks Qui-Gon after sensing Anakin’s incredible Force-potential. His mother, Shmi, replies, “There was no father. I gave birth to him, I raised him . . . I can’t explain how it happened.” The realization then dawns on Qui-Gon that Anakin may be the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy. Qui-Gon is a true believer in Anakin’s destiny from that moment on and, with his dying breath, insists that Obi-Wan train Anakin to become a Jedi Knight. Qui-Gon’s belief in Anakin, however, is just that—a belief—and Master Yoda points out the uncertainty of Anakin’s future.
For us, the future is also clouded. Typically—despite some people’s belief in crystal balls or Tarot cards—we don’t have visionary insights into what’s to come. Even gifted Jedi don’t have certainty about future events. When Luke has a vision of Han and Leia suffering on Bespin, he asks Yoda, “Will they die?” If any Jedi is able to see clearly into the future, it should be the oldest, wisest, greenest, and most powerful of all of them. But even Yoda can only reply, “Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.” Perhaps it’s this lack of certainty about our knowledge of the future that allows us to freely choose what actions we’ll take to determine the future for ourselves—as Luke courageously, but perhaps also foolishly, chooses to end his training early and leave Dagobah to help his friends. Of course, we typically don’t equate ignorance with freedom. Suffering under the delusion that you’re free because you don’t know your own future isn’t nearly as good as actually having an indeterminate future—a future not already set in stone.
But at least one individual in the Star Wars galaxy seems to have had a pretty clear idea of what lay ahead in the future: whoever wrote the Jedi prophecy that Anakin fulfilled when he, as Vader, killed Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi. This visionary, at least in this case, had a “God’s-eye view” of the future and it’s this perspective that raises questions regarding Anakin’s freedom as well as our own.
In our galaxy, many religious believers—particularly those in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions—conceive of God as omniscient (all-knowing) and understand God’s infinite knowledge to include infallible knowledge of the future.5 If God knows from all eternity that I would be writing this chapter right now, it might seem that there’s no way it could be false that I’m now writing this chapter. When I was sitting in my Lay-Z-Boy chair about thirty minutes ago wondering whether I should work on my chapter or watch Attack of the Clones on DVD with my 5.1 surround sound system on full-blast (because my wife is out with her girlfriends tonight), God already knew what I was going to choose and, since God can’t be wrong, it seems I couldn’t have chosen to watch my DVD instead of working on my chapter. Was I free in my choice to work on my chapter?
To approach this question, we have to understand a little more about God’s nature. Both St. Augustine (354-430) and St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)—two very influential Christian philosophers of the Middle Ages—reason that there isn