Tomás Sánchez Olivares

9.5.11

BATMAN, ARISTOTLE AND KANT ON

MORAL EDUCATION

Two of the most interesting proposals about the way in which we are morally educated were proposed by
Aristotle and Immanuel Kant. First, almost twenty five hundred years ago, Aristotle came up with the idea
that the human being learns moral values by “emulating or imitating a morally exemplary
person” CITATION NIE \l 2057 . He also stated that in order to learn from this imitation, it was necessary for the
subject to do the action which he considers being morally correct, and by this, he can establish a criterion for
this value to be correct or incorrect; he said we weren’t able to learn if it wasn’t by repetition and actually
doing it, or at least attempting to. The problem with Aristotle’s theory is that he doesn’t completely achieve
to explain exactly how do we recognise a good action from a bad one, howeve r, he explains that if we
wanted to learn about a specific value, like justice bravery or tolerance, we should be looking for the morally
exemplary person which reflects this value, not yet defining how do we chose this person.

Kant, on the other hand, proposes in the Groundwork that the most important human value is freedom, and
in order to reach this or any other value, they had to be able to reason by themselves and then chose and
then decide personally what was right and what’s wrong, and what’s right. He called this autonomy. He also
defined the opposite, is someone lets his life be determined by external authorities or forces, it was called
heteronomy. In summary, Kant’s theory is ruled by the effectiveness in reasoning.

If we take a look again at the theories, we can see that we cannot successfully achieve one if we don’t
perform the other. Kant’s theory lets us identify right from wrong through reasoning, what Aristotle’s theory
had trouble doing; nevertheless, in order to successfully learn, we need to follow Aristotle’s proposal. To
explain the different theories and how they are linked, Batman and Robin are used as a great example. By
fighting against crime with Robin by his side, Batman is a morally exemplary person, and so, Robin has just to
imitate him to learn his values. This is proven by the fact that Robin doesn’t participate in the reasoning to
capture or plan the captures and getaways; it is always Batman, as Robin is in the process of learning. He has
decided to “emulate the actions and behaviour of a morally exemplary person in order to acquire and
develop the morally desirable qualities Batman seems to possess.” CITATION NIE \l 2057 Nevertheless, Carsten
Nielsen explains that Batman should not be considered a person who embodies many valuable virtues just
for who he is, but because he actually does embody this virtues; and so by regarding someone as morally
virtuous doesn’t mean they are worth been emulated. In summary, Robin can be consider to follow
Aristotle’s theory, as he has no apparent autonomy and by the fact that he is actually learning.

To be able to apply Kant’s theory to the Dynamic Duo, we should now that Dick Grayson, formerly
mentioned as Robin, changes after he leaves Gotham, and returns as Nightwing, a new crime fighter, who
has not only shown to have learnt Batman’s moral principles (explained by Aristotle), but he has been able
to develop those ideas through the use of autonomy, which have now give Dick Grayson a moral character.

In conclusion, we can see that Aristotle describes the initial stages in the process of moral education, which
are represented by the character of Robin, who learns what the moral values are because of his relationship
with a morally exemplary person as Batman. It is also clear that Kant focuses on the aim and/or end of the
process of moral education, and Dick Grayson allows us to appreciate it due to its ability to develop
Batman’s teachings into his own and personal moral values which give him a moral character, with what he
can be consider a morally exemplary person, as he is a morally exemplary person, not just for who he is.
Finally, we can see that there’s no necessary opposition between Aristotle and Kant, but their theories
complement each other.

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