1

Kinyis Kirana 11N

TOK

03 September 2018

AOK: Ethics, Human Sciences

Knowledge Question: To what extent does reasoning, emotion and ethics play a role in

justifies an individual’s actions

On the 14th February of 2018 or more specifically, Valentine’s day. Valentine’s

day is considered as a day filled with love and affection. Yet that wasn’t the case for

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

At around 2:19 PM, gunman Nikolas Cruz arrived in Marjory Stoneman Douglas in an

uber, carrying a duffel bag in which he hid his AR 15. In that hour, Nikolas Cruz entered

building 12 of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Campus. 2 minutes after, Cruz

was reloading his automatic rifle in the first floor’s east stairwell. At that time also, a

freshman student, Chris Mckenna, encountered Nikolas Cruz after Chris Mckenna was

using the restroom. Crus gave Mckenna a blunt warning that went like, “You’d better get

out of here. Things are going to get messy.” After the brief encounter, Chris Mckenna

fled the building in fear of his life. In a matter of 30 seconds, the shooting happened.

Thus results to the killing of seventeen students and staffs and injuring seventeen

others. This raises the question of what motivated him to go onto this killing spree and

who can possibly have caused him to go on to onto this rampage. Many speculations
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have grown, yet majority have come to the conclusion that Nikolas Cruz was falling

through depression at a fast rate. This depression was caused by many factors adding

up. One of those factors are how Nikolas Cruz’s mother, Lynda Cruz died 3 months

prior to the shooting.1 In addition, Cruz’s father’s death followed after his mother’s, this

marks the beginning of Cruz’s depression.2 Furthermore, Nikolas Cruz was constantly

bullied for his peculiar behaviour socially and privately. These weird behaviour includes

him killing squirrels with pellet guns, stealing his neighbour’s mails, and including him

picking fights with many students in Marjory Stoneman Douglas and was said to bite off

a student’s ear. A neighbour of his, Malcolm Roxbourgh, commented, “Just about

everybody on this part of the street had a run-in with him. He was always getting into

trouble, that kid, he was not right in the head.”3 Cruz has always been a public menace

up until where he was expelled from his school, Stoneman Douglas, due to his

disciplinary problem and was speculated that he has been threatening many students,

especially his ex-girlfriend and the ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. Which then led to the

act of him conducting one of America’s deadliest school shooting, with this shooting

being in the ninth deadliest.4

1
Blackwood, Emily. “Disturbing Cellphone Videos Recorded By Parkland School Shooter Nikolas Cruz Reveal New
Details Of His Plans & Motivation.” ​YourTango​, 31 May 2018,
www.yourtango.com/2018313928/who-is-angie-new-details-plans-motivations-cellphone-video-recorded-by-nikolas-cruz-before-park
land-school-shooting.

2
Wan, William, et al. “Florida Shooting Suspect Nikolas Cruz: Guns, Depression and a Life in Trouble.” ​The Washington
Post​, WP Company, 15 Feb. 2018,
www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/15/florida-shooting-suspect-nikolas-cruz-guns-depression-and-a-life-in-fre
e-fall/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0a7f2c0b1866.

3
Wan, William, et al. “Florida Shooting Suspect Nikolas Cruz: Guns, Depression and a Life in Trouble.” ​The Washington
Post​, WP Company, 15 Feb. 2018,
www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/15/florida-shooting-suspect-nikolas-cruz-guns-depression-and-a-life-in-fre
e-fall/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0a7f2c0b1866.
4
​Library, CNN. “Deadliest Mass Shootings in Modern US History Fast Facts.” ​CNN,​ Cable News Network, 28 Nov. 2018,
edition.cnn.com/2013/09/16/us/20-deadliest-mass-shootings-in-u-s-history-fast-facts/index.html.
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This now comes down to these questions, could his actions been justified due to his

current mental capacity he was on and his reasons, and finally, how far can reasoning

and emotions play a role in justifying one’s action or in making a decision.

When making a decision, people tend to reside with reason. This is because reason is

the process of ​conclusions, judgements or inferences from facts or premises.5 Reasoning 

in us usually comes instinctively. Yet it’s not necessarily between what is good and what is 

bad since both of those are completely subjective and differ within people. Rather, 

reasoning resonates on each individuals past experiences. In this case, we are thought that 

the act of murdering is considered something evil to do or something unethical. Thus it 

would’ve been cleared on how we should treat and punish people if they were to do such 

things. But oddly, many have debated that Nikolas Cruz should be comforted and offered 

help rather than punished for the shooting and murder of 17 students and staff and the 

injuring of 17 others.  

With that mention, this debate has also something to do with emotion. Without 

emotion we could be heartlessly making decisions that could bring many people 

disadvantages and most importantly, emotions are what helps make us humans. Whether 

it’s the emotion of anger when something falls apart or the emotion of sadness when 

something doesn’t come out what you expect it to be. Further explaining to why Nikolas 

Cruz received a debate on whether or not he should be offered help was because of how 

Cruz was severely bullied and outcasted amongst student in Stoneman Douglas. Cruz has 

suffered many losses and lost his mind in the process. Thus it explains why many people 

5
​“Reasoning.” ​Dictionary.com​, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/reasoning?s=t.
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still feel some kind of empathy and sympathy to what Nikolas Cruz has done. One example 

is how Gordon Weeks, Nikolas Cruz’s public defender, admitted that Cruz is deeply sad, is 

on the verge of suicide and is on a suicide watch.6   

Many people use Nikolas Cruz’ sad and depressing story in order to justify and 

redeem what Nikolas Cruz has committed. Yet does that mean it justifies the actions 

Nikolas Cruz has done? And doesn’t that mean that it also justify many other criminal 

records in which involves many mental health problems like psychopathic tendencies or 

people with a dark past? 

However, we also should take into consideration of the fact how Nikolas Cruz had 

a choice in not proceeding into his deadly rampage. Instead, he could’ve instead picked 

many other alternatives to deal with his so called depression. For example, Cruz could 

instead to not show his emotions through violence and rather he could’ve open up and get 

help from a professional, or he could suppress his emotions and carried on with life. There 

are still many more alternatives and all of these choices were all affected and made with 

emotions and reasoning. He could’ve gone through the non-violent road yet he decided 

that he would rather push through with his plan in which he would conduct one of the 

most deadliest shooting of 2018. This decision could have resulted from the fact that he 

made this choice with a lack of understanding of what consequences would have 

bestowed upon him and the fact that he could’ve made this decision without much 

thought and rather had a somewhat emotional accomplishment in achieving said task. 

6
Wan, William, et al. “Florida Shooting Suspect Nikolas Cruz: Guns, Depression and a Life in Trouble.” ​The Washington
Post​, WP Company, 15 Feb. 2018,
www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/15/florida-shooting-suspect-nikolas-cruz-guns-depression-and-a-life-in-fre
e-fall/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0a7f2c0b1866.
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To further carry on, ​ethics​​ has a major role in the deciding and justifying of Nikolas 

Cruz’s fate. Ethics is a code of values which guide our choices and actions and determine 

the purpose and course of our lives.7 Ethics are also a guide on how we should live our 

lives morally. It shows us a glimpse on what actions are considered good or bad.  

Yet, these ethics can be affected by both emotion and reasoning. If it were to just 

be plainly ethics to decide on Cruz’s fate then he would’ve received a death sentence due 

to his clear motives of wanting and acting alone in the school shooting. One of the 

evidence that supports this claim is a recording of him on a cell phone in which he asserted 

that he is ‘dead serious’ about his desire to attack the school with his AR 15 and also 

detailed his plans on how he would proceed doing it.8 This provides a clear sense on what 

fate he should receive and that’s a death sentence, due to him having premeditated 

murder of 17 students and staffs in Stoneman Douglas.  

However, that was not the case. This was due to the fact that many people may 

have emotions tied with Nikolas Cruz and or many people may felt remorseful to Cruz’s 

fate and what caused him to do his actions. Other people said otherwise and claimed that 

he deserves all of the consequences that came with his decision. Reasoning could also 

affect the decision through ethics. For example, someone also ruled out and said that Cruz 

was still ‘a kid’ and doesn’t deserve any punishment that anyone would otherwise give to a 

grown adult.9 It was also concluded that Nikolas Cruz wasn’t healthy in his mind and 

7
Woods, Tim. “Ethics.” ​Natural Sciences Notes - ToK​, www.ibmastery.com/blog/ethics-notes-theory-of-knowledge.
8
Blackwood, Emily. “Disturbing Cellphone Videos Recorded By Parkland School Shooter Nikolas Cruz Reveal New
Details Of His Plans & Motivation.” ​YourTango​, 31 May 2018,
www.yourtango.com/2018313928/who-is-angie-new-details-plans-motivations-cellphone-video-recorded-by-nikolas-cruz-before-park
land-school-shooting.
9
​ Wan, William, et al. “Florida Shooting Suspect Nikolas Cruz: Guns, Depression and a Life in Trouble.” ​The Washington
Post​, WP Company, 15 Feb. 2018,
www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/15/florida-shooting-suspect-nikolas-cruz-guns-depression-and-a-life-in-fre
e-fall/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0a7f2c0b1866.
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needed assistance and surveillances regarding his mental health. Thus, lessening the 

punishment or consequence that he should have received. 

Additionally, ​human sciences​​ also plays a role in the justifying of Nikolas Cruz fate. 

Human sciences is a branch of study which deals with people or their actions, including the 

social sciences and the humanities, as contrasted with the natural sciences or physical 

sciences.10 In other words, human sciences are focused on the behavioral of an individual 

or a group of people. This could be implemented onto Nikolas Cruz’s actions. As 

mentioned before, Nikolas Cruz was driven to shoot the school due to the harassment he 

has encountered and due to also the rise of depression and the decreasing of his mental 

health. People may argue that he was a troubled individual needing a guide to 

enlightenment and said that this could’ve been avoided if people would’ve been 

welcoming to Cruz’s situations. But many could also argue that Cruz had a choice and the 

right conscience to make a decision in which he wouldn’t shoot Stoneman Douglas and 

inevitable injured and killed many students and staffs in the school.  

The sense in which why he’d choose to do the attack and done it can be caused by 

emotion and reason. Emotions can alter human behaviour up to the point where they 

could become violent and leave all reasoning behind. Nevertheless, reasoning can also 

prevail in order to suppress those emotions and think more rationally on what actions one 

should do and shouldn't. This could’ve been the case if Nikolas Cruz would’ve taken time 

and a lot of thought to his emotion and what other choices he could’ve done. Furthermore, 

10
“Human Science | Definition of Human Science in English by Oxford Dictionaries.” ​Oxford Dictionaries | English​, Oxford
Dictionaries, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/human_science.
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what Nikolas Cruz has done could’ve been a matter of his desire to do so. Resulting in him 

deserving of the prior consequences through ethics but due to emotion and reason, his 

consequences have been lessen to suit his needs. 

In conclusion, whether or not Cruz deserved the original consequences if he wasn’t 

a teen is up for debate due to the fact that he is very much capable of killing and injuring 

34 people, why does that make a difference to someone who’s of grown age. Yet I could 

understand how his mental deficiency is in need of tending and improving thus it could’ve 

been reasonable to grant him a less heavy consequence or fate.  

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