Giorkis Hadjivasili

Professor Burleson

PHIL 1312 1

30 April 2023

“The Joker Social Experiment”

Kantianism in The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is a superhero fiction movie that focuses on Batman, which is the

hero, and the Joker, which is the villain. Batman is a billionaire called Bruce Wayne and the

Joker is his mortal enemy who is someone with mental issues looking to bring chaos to the

city of Gotham, testing the morals of humanity along the way. The movie climaxes when the

Joker sets in play a social experiment. It involves two boats, one holding the city’s most

dangerous prisoners and the other innocent civilians. The catch comes when the ships’

engines are stopped out in the open and cannot move. Then, the ship’s crew finds explosives

along with loads of barrels filled with oil, and a box with a detonator inside. Next, the Joker

connects onto the speakers of both the ships to tell them that each detonator is for the other

ship and in order for them to survive one must blow up the other. They also have a timer until

twelve, which if no one chooses until then, both of them explode (Nolan).

I chose this clip as I remembered watching this movie, and how this mentally

challenging social experiment tested the morals of those people in the two boats as well as

my own. It makes you reconsider right from wrong as whatever choice you may take, people

still die. I believe that applying Kantian Ethics in this situation helps clear the moral

judgement you undergo when faced with this decision. Using the categorical imperatives of

Kant, you would know that taking a life under any circumstance is the wrong thing to do as it
means that everyone, always should take lives. However, you could say that not choosing to

detonate the others condemns your ship to destruction, meaning you still takes lives, which

makes you reconsider the whole idea of morals. This is one of the many reasons The Dark

Knight, and the Joker’s social experiment is so interesting for everyone watching it. In

addition, choosing to detonate the other boat is using those people as a means to an end to

save your own life which contradicts with Kant’s second categorical imperative.

All in all, The Dark Knight is an amazing movie where it shows the true colors of

humanity. The role of the villain, the Joker, really pushes the limits of moral duty, and the

choice between what is right and wrong. Despite using extreme measures to do so, the Joker

invokes the use of various ethical theories such as consequentialism, utilitarianism,

Kantianism and many more.

 Works Cited:

Nolan, Christopher. “The Dark Knight.” Netflix Official Site,

2008, https://www.netflix.com/search?q=The%20Dark%20Knight