Aristotle: Flying Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
In 1963, Oregon, recidivist criminal Randle McMurphy is moved to a mental institution after serving a short sentence on a prison farm for statutory rape of a 15-year-old. Though not actually mentally ill, McMurphy hopes to avoid hard labor and serve the rest of his sentence in a relaxed environment. Upon arriving at the hospital, he finds the ward run by the steely, strict Nurse Ratched, who subtly suppresses the actions of her patients through a passive-aggressive routine, intimidating the patients. A 1975 American comedy-drama film directed by Milos Forman, based on the 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, is culturally significant film that touches a broad spectrum of ethical dilemmas and highlights complexity of the time and place. Perhaps, some protagonists can be seen as carriers of three different moral theories: Aristotelean, Kantian and Sartrean. First is represented by Chief, second is by Nurse Ratched and the last one by Randle McMurphy.
Aristotelian teleology, the philosophical attempt to describe things in terms of their apparent purpose, directive principle, or goal, a purpose that is imposed by a human use, teaches us that everything in the objective world have purpose. As telos of the river is to flow into the ocean, human’s telos is to reason her/himself into being wise. Aristotle goes into discussion of meaning of ethics. Aristotelian Ethics is about what makes a virtuous character possible, which is in turn necessary if happiness is to be possible. He describes a sequence of necessary steps to achieve this: righteous actions, often done under the influence of teachers, allow the development of the right habits. Rather than discussing only four "cardinal virtues" of Plato (courage, temperance, justice, and prudence), Aristotle starts with courage and temperance as the two typical moral virtues which can be described as a mean, then discusses a whole range of minor virtues and vices which can be described as a mean, and only then discusses justice and the intellectual virtues. These in turn can allow the development of a good stable character in which the habits are voluntary, and this in turn gives a chance of achieving eudemonia (happiness). Good habits are described as a precondition for good character. In book two of the Nicomachean Ethics, philosopher explains that will in collaboration with choices making us who we are, step by step, to nurture virtues trough habitual (virtuous) behavior. Moral virtue is the disposition to act excellently, which a person develops partly as a result of his upbringing, and partly as a result of his habit of action. Aristotle develops his analysis of character in Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics, where he makes this argument that character arises from habit—likening ethical character to a skill that is acquired through practice, such as learning a musical instrument.
Chief Bromden, who’s played by Will Sampson, is the huge Native American mental patient who pushes a broom silently while observing everything that happens in the ward. Everyone thinks the Chief is a deaf-mute, nearly comatose, and unable to interact. His hair is long, his face solemn, and his eyes sad. McMurphy says he is “big as a mountain”, and he is nearly as silent, solid, and strong, but he grows and changes more than anyone during the course of the film. In the beginning, his defense against Nurse Ratched is complete withdrawal. By pretending to be deaf, he need neither speak nor interact with anyone. Even McMurphy’s antics do not initially pierce the Chief’s protective facade. The first sign of change comes after McMurphy climbs up the Chief’s back and arms in order to escape over the fence. Although he appears powerless, he actually has a lot of power because of all the knowledge he’s gained through observation and listening in on conversations. He is a carrier of a Goodwill, that here seems to be a beginning of friendship with McMurphy. “The man who has received a benefit bestows goodwill in return for what has been done to him, but in doing so is only doing what is just; while he who wishes someone to prosper because he hopes for enrichment through him seems to have goodwill not to him but rather to himself, just as a man is not a friend to another if he cherishes him for the sake of some use to be made of him. In general, goodwill arises on account of some excellence and worth, when one man seems to another beautiful or brave or something of the sort, as we pointed out in the case of competitors in a contest” (Aristotle, NE, Ch. 5, Relation of friendship to goodwill). McMurphy’s getaway brings a smile to the Chief’s face, because he sees for the first time that the outside world may be accessible and that rebellion may be an option.
Going through adventures with McMurphy Chief develops virtue of courage (with respect to acting in the face of danger, courage is a mean between the excess of rashness and the deficiency of cowardice). At the end of the movie Chief decides he is now fearless enough to escape with McMurphy—this means he has reached sanity and developed the courage virtue. When he realizes that McMurphy was lobotomized, Chief decides to kill him, because he knows that Randle would never want to live like that, surviving on the hospital bed without ability to act on his own, lacking freedom and limiting his inner horizon almost to its inanimateness with his physical and mental condition. Chief’s love— quite a triumph of the spirit over repression and death (Chief realizes what he has to do, so it is the most Kantian moment in the movie, but perhaps, he came to this conclusion through the Aristotelean means). At the end of the film, the Chief goes out into the world, escaping the mental facility, leaving all his fears and insecurities behind.
Immanuel Kant, in his radical deontologist’s perspective, denies ideas of consequentialism, or, in other words, believes that morality lies somewhere other than in consequences, as in opposition of the utilitarian ethical theory. Properly motivated will, or the Good Will, is what, according to the philosopher, we nurture, something that comes in a form of habit, but the ground for moral values prepared in us by Nature and its formation depends upon our Nurture, or habit (TNMV, 477).
Our motivation, according to the theory, comes from three sources: self-interest, inclination (that can be harmful to our morals, as it can go against the moral duty) and duty. Acting out of duty is acting out of respect for the universal law of reason, or acting out of the categorical imperative, which states that only on these maxims that one can will to become a universal law.
Within the given context of the Cuckoo's Nest, Nurse Ratched is dutiful, her duty is hospital’s order. The problem that her will isn’t good. Instead she wants complete power, so she manipulates her patients and the staff to fulfill her duty. As the head nurse and as a woman with many connections both inside and outside of the hospital, she is able to maneuver things so that most situations fit her expectations. If she needs to, she uses the force of her hatred to get things done. Though she smiles a lot and talks sweetly, she’s definitely not a kind or charming woman. She is, however, a woman with a strong will and a fanaticism for control. She pursues power with intensity and is very successful at getting people to do what she wants, she violates Kantian ethics and fails her attempt to follow the duty.
Although Nurse Ratched is an antagonist of the worst kind in this film, even Chief knows that she’s simply the human face of the machine that Chief imagines is society. In other words, according to Chief, the system is larger than Nurse Ratched; she is only part of the system. She happens to be the patients’ direct link to the mechanical system, but she is not the system itself. This puts Nurse Ratched and her power into perspective. However, even with her little amount of power, she is destructive. In the short time frame of the film, she destroys two men—one commit suicide and one is lobotomized. She gets what she wants and feels no guilt about how it’s accomplished. If we assume that she acts out of duty, she must act out of law of reason, or the categorical imperative. Her inclination is to punish a few for the great order in the hospital. Her maxim would be, then, “it’s ok to punish a few for the great order in the hospital” and universalized maxim will be “it’s ok to punish a few for the great order in the hospital”, but it might contradict itself, because if punishment will be applied to authorities (herself or head of the clinic, commission and etc.) the order will more likely be ruined. Although, there is contradiction, Nurse Ratched appears to be a person who would sacrifice anyone (perhaps herself too) for the order in the system she accepts as just one. Such a maxim is completely unable to make contribution to the universal Good Will of Immanuel Kant.
Jean Paul Sartre, on the other hand, the existentialist who himself went through the concentration camp and was a part of the French underground movement. He claims that our existence must pound our essence and throughout the life we constantly choosing who to become, in other words, we freely choose an action from within out horizon of possibilities and whatever you choose, you could always choose otherwise. It is important to recognize that there is a lot within the horizon. Here, consciousness is neglecting activity, it is nothingness, to be consciousness, is to understand that something isn’t me. Sartre also claims that changes are possible, as soon as one takes look back on self, make a decision and have freedom to change or stay same. Self and values determine one’s ethical stands, according to Sartre, who, in opposition to Kant, appeals to develop one’s own moral standards and claims that actions are only real measure of one’s morality.
We exist and we become who we are trough the actions we make, developing own moral standards. We always have choice and can always act within the horizon of possibilities. Importantly, one must always try to recognize limits of own horizon. McMurphy is a man destined to change the asylum forever. One of his first lessons is trying to move the marble sink, and he didn’t, but said “at least I tried.” That what makes his perfect Sartrean moralist. He also had shown other patients that there is more to their life than connivance to the hospital’s authorities and the position that life created for them (not without their own consent for the most of patients).
Whether he’s a psychopath or not, we’ll never know. Regardless, he sure is smart and he sure is likable and he sure does give the patients the ability to seize back the power that Nurse Ratched has stolen from them with her petty little rules and her many small cruelties. Though McMurphy has the opportunity to conform to the rules and save himself, but instead, he lookes back at himself and ultimately chooses to fight for the men on the ward. He recognizes the power that Nurse Ratched wields but doesn’t seem to understand the danger she represents to him until somebody points it out.
Sartre’s works take pains either to ascribe moral responsibility to agents individually or collectively or to set the ontological foundations for such ascriptions. McMurphy focuses on identifying with his ego in a bad-faith flight from freedom, to relations of “existence” and autonomy where he attends entirely to his project and its goal. The former is egoistic, Sartre now implies, where the latter is outgoing and generous. This resonates with what he will say about the creative artist's work as a gift, an appeal to another freedom and an act of generosity. His moral project now is a rebellion against hospital’s authorities, who are pinching and suppress any manifestation of freedom or will that come from the patients. And he almost achieved his mission, but the price he paid was critical to his own well-being. He changes his plan at the last moment, the last moment he could gain his usual freedom and escape mental facility forever. He looks back at his friends and himself, and decides to stay. He knew it’s now or never, he chose between freedom and death.
For a while, McMurphy does conform in order to save himself. However, after McMurphy realizes that Nurse Ratchet’s control is a life-and-death matter. At that point he steps up his rebellion. Punishment with electroshock therapy only serves to strengthen his will and preserve his spirit from Nurse Ratchet’s manipulation. His strength in the face of electroshock therapy makes him an even more powerful symbol to the men on the ward. Though the patients are afraid for him and know that Nurse Ratched will do everything she can to get the better of McMurphy, he again doesn’t recognize the danger he’s in. He, with the notion of own freedom and broad inner horizon brought hope to the place, which was thought as hopeless by many, including the patients themselves, clinic’s stuff, authorities and even patient’s families.
He wants to stick around until he can help Billy overcome his fear of women. This is partly ignorance on McMurphy’s part and also partly self-sacrifice. By this time, he has a better understanding of the potential danger to himself but he’s still confident that he can beat the game. Although he seems to be winning for a time, Nurse Ratched has the upper-hand. He loses it when Billy Bibbit commits suicide and he tries to strangle Nurse Ratched to death. When McMurphy is sent to the hospital after attempting to strangle Nurse Ratched, he returns a different man—part of his brain and all of his spirit are gone. That is when Chief decides to choke him with pillow, because man like McMurphy couldn’t bear such a being, even if he is unaware of his condition. Man like McMurphy can’t live without own freedom and expanded horizon and Chief is absolutely aware of this. That is why his thrilling action is also the most humane.
