Kant

Analyze Dr. Strangelove Using Philosophical Arguments

The movie Dr. Strangelove, directed by Stanley Kubrick, deals with the topic of the Cold War relations between the U.S and the U.S.S.R, and the use of nuclear weapons. Although the use of nuclear weapons was nonexistent in the Cold War, the movie depicts a scenario in which the use of nuclear weapons is prominent. The plot revolves around an accidental nuclear war triggered by deranged Air Force General Jack D. Ripper, due to his worries over a Communist plot. This plot involved fluoridation of water, which would supposedly contaminate everyone’s “vital bodily fluids.” After Ripper orders the nuclear strike, the president manages to recall all the planes, except for one whose radio is damaged in an attack. The Russians agree to call off their attack as well, but there’s a catch: if any nuclear weapons are dropped on Russia, an automatic ‘doomsday device’ will detonate, killing all life on Earth. Dr. Strangelove is a satire that perfectly combines both political and military insanity, while questioning the ideas of power, war, and government. The film promotes the idea of political irrationality. When dealing with these subjects, the philosophers Immanuel Kant and Niccolò Machiavelli have their own, and consequently conflicting, opinions. Kant had written an essay entitled Perpetual Peace, which was comprised of six different articles for perpetual peace and in turn, promotes the idea of peace among nations, states, and humans. Machiavelli had written The Prince, and The Art of War, which reflect Machiavelli's lifelong preoccupation with the effect of conflict on human society. This work, more than any other, contains his most developed ideas about military organization and the proper relationship between the army, the state, and the individual. For war, first and foremost, should be a function of the state, rather than of individuals. In a well-ordered society, individuals will act in a military...