Not actually having read the book "Philosophy of Star Trek" (I only skimmed) all of these observations are just what I've seen through viewing the show.

While many moral questions that relate to our times are presented in the near paradise of a future (with exceptions of course), I've decided to start off this topic talking about the different races. I hope to expand this later on by talking about certain issues, but I'll first hit the main points: races and empires.

United Federation of Planets: What is it? Majority of humans and a huge amount of other races as well. This is the basis of our judgement of other races and ideas, and what is it? It's socialism! Yes, in the greatly improved future, we live as socialists, or demi-communists. The state party, the federation council, makes fair and unbais desisions based on all facts presented. There is no trade per se in the federation, no form of money, for people help each other based on their need.
The lack of reasorces, many of which are now provided by the replicator, allows this system to take root and hold onto its form.

One must note, however, that this form of gov't only took place after a huge WWIII, only after the human race had almost wiped itself out, but where aided by....


Vulcans- Yes, those pointed eared spock fellows. What are they? Stoics. Though they posses emotions (quite strong ones at that) they belived that to show emotions of any type, for good or ill, was to show weakness. Beliving, as some of the Acient Greeks did, that through conquering all emotions, we could extend the logic of our life, and thus make it better for all who come, Vulcans have put down all feelings for hundreds of years.


Kilgons- What humans really are. Vying for land, power, wealth, fame and (at times) honor, these warlike beings often do not think fully through their actions. While their courage cannot be doubted, and while they put up an apperance of honor and justice, it is oft not so. Their system does have it merits, but (as most humans now are) is too often too rash.


Ferengi- I suppose these are the paradoy of the extreme capitalists. Always looking for one up in business, this race lives to obtain wealth. I see this entire race as a reflection of the lazzie-faire capitalists that many people yern to be.

Borg- Possibly the hardest race to relate to, the Borg are a single mind driven for a single purpose, conquest. They are the users of matrial and lives, doing what they will with what they find, and leaving little of value in their wake. I would classify this as imperialism at its worst, an probably as greed, though in Star Trek, it is clear that the borg could not posses such a feeling. However, I do find it apparent that through their actions, for the collective, they express the ultimate form of greed.



Your thoughts?

Not being an avid star trek watcher, I can't attest too much to how various elements of the show particularly apply to philosophy.

However, Star Trek without a doubt is one of the more successful television series in history, and it seems to me this is because it created a believable world, even though such a world was "fiction."

It also seems to me that in order for such a universe to be believable (or in order for people to identify with elements within it), there has to be recognizeable differences in philosophies. Which is why there are such things as the "Philosophy of Lord of the Rings," for example.

Any fictional place/universe that can captivate audiences so well has to have philosophical parallels in the real world.

But how like the philosophers the characters of Star Trek are--a group of people going out to chart existence.

Nevin is a Star Trek geek, and I was wondering if he'd share his insite as well. <_<

Oh, sure. Goad me on, will you? And the term is "Trekkie," thank you very much.

Anyway, I think you may be taking too narrow a view of the alien species. Most of the races are complex enough that they represent different things at different points. It is interesting to note that Roddenberry originally had planned for humanity itself to be essentially flawless, and to explore humanity's flaws through the other races. Of course, this plan was clearly changed in the later series, particularly Deep Space 9, in which the Federation was anything but flawless. This was just as well, I thought, because it offered a much more realistic view of the future, as well as pointing out some possible flaws of the neo-socialist society which Roddenberry had envisioned.

There are certainly many interesting philosophical ideas presented in Star Trek, and for certain there are many obvious allegories. The episode Let That Be Your Last Battlefield is ridiculously blatant in its allegorical denunciation of racism. In the episode, the Enterprise crew encounters two alien beings, Bele and Lokai, who, to them, look exactly alike -- they are each black on one side of their face and white on the other (as in, really black and really white, not the skin colours in the human race). Bele is chasing Lokai, and hates Lokai and all of his kind. This confuses Kirk, who tells Bele that to them, he seems to be chasing one of his own kind. The alien looks at him aghast, and insists that he is completely different from the being he is chasing -- he, and all of his people, are white on the right side, whereas Lokai and all his people are white on the left side. To the crew, the difference seems a ridiculous reason for Bele's bigotry and hate, and shows how ridiculous racism would likely seem to an impartial observer of humanity.

Another interesting case is that of Star VI: The Undiscovered Country. Written on the cusp of the Cold War, the movie (which is already an excellent film) becomes even more interesting when one views it with the idea of the Federation representing the United States and the Klingon Empire representing the Russians. In the film, peace is finally about to come between the Federation and the Klingons, but people from both sides are trying to stop it because they do not trust the other side. Kirk himself says that he "I have never trusted Klingons, and I never will." The application to the situation between the United States and the Soviet Union is obvious.

The Next Generation, generally acknowledged as the best series, has numerous brilliant episodes which ask difficult philosophical questions and which put forth fascinating ideas. The Measure of a Man asks the question of whether or not Data, a cybernetic being generally treated as an equal of the crew, can be considered "sentient" or not. In the episode I, Borg, the crew takes aboard a single Borg drone who has been separated from the collective. Picard discovers that he has the ability to re-program the Borg drone to return to and contaminate the collective, possibly wiping out the Borg once and for all. But just as he's about to do this, Geordi (I believe it was Geordi) confronts him and tells him that Hugh has developed a sense of individuality, and that it would be unethical to use him as the instrument of the Borg's (and his own) destruction. The episode also shows the progression of Hugh (which Geordi names the drone) from being a mindless drone separated from the collective to being a self-aware individual with his own feelings and ideas. This episode is one of my personal favorites, and I think contains some of the most poignant moments in all of Star Trek. At one point in the episode, Guinan (whose race has been all but wiped out by the Borg) reluctantly visits Hugh in his cell, and angrily informs him that resistance is *not* futile. She describes her people's struggle against the Borg onslaught, and bitterly recounts how there are now very few of them left. "What you are saying," responds Hugh haltingly, "is that you are lonely. So is Hugh." Guinan, for one of the only times in the series, is left speechless. The pivotal moment of the episode, and indeed, one of the most classic moments of all of Star Trek, comes when Picard tries to convince Hugh to go back to the collective re-programmed so as to destroy them. Up until this point, Hugh has been referring to himself as "we," as the Borg, lacking individuality, always do. However, upon this request, Hugh refuses, saying, "I will not assist you." Picard is flabbergasted, and tells Hugh, "You said 'I.' But you are Borg." "No," responds Hugh. "I am Hugh." The episode really needs to be seen to be fully appreciated.

Is that enough insight for you, Delta?

Actually, I knew all that. :rolleyes:

What I was going for was a more structured planning for this topic, but its all good. I'll start doing some episode breakdowns soon as I get the chance.

Thanks for your insight though! We should make this a bit on going thread eh?

Damn, Delta, you are correct about it all, but what are the Q?

Well, the Q are those who have evolved beyond what we are, as humans. Though, as humans, we should evolve beyond the powers of the Q. Q represnt a demi-god of of our human myths.

I believe each of these "races" have a corresponding popular media/historical perception of race as we have seen in through the decades in American media.

Vulcans = Asian, most similar to perceptions of Chinese or Japanese. Traditional stereotypes include stoicism, mathematical/calculating logic, seemingly lack of sexual masculinity, "secret" techniques such as the Vulcan neck grab.

Klingons = Africans/African Americans. Common perceptions include emotional and at times irrational action (black rage?) with the capacity for passioned rhetoric. Dark skin haha, extreme strength, masculine duty.

Ferengi = Classic portrayal of Jewish stereotype. Not very "masculine" yet always looking out for financial interests. Why am I reminded of that big nosed winged alien in Star Wars Episode I? I think you know why.

Borg = Europeans/Whites. Conquest, greed.

Mm, you might be right, Kali, but given everything Nevin has said about this show, I doubt that it would present the different races as racial stereotypes of today.

And this thread is really interesting. C'mon, Nevin, add some more!

Indeed, knowing the creator of Star Trek, I'd be more inlcinded to say it was gov't rather than racial.

Why do you say this? Are the writers of star trek impervious to racial stereotyping?

As for myself, not exactly, but I would say that gov't set ups would be the basis for many of the themes, while the simple racial sterotyping that mixes in may just be an after thought, or an unintentional writing.

The Borg are not greedy, they just seek to assilmate beings into their order. I believe they are the representatives of the future android, and allowing/forcing other beings to be half human/half technology

Yeah, its hard to say greed, because greed is an emotion I doubt they could express.

Imperialism without purpose seems to fit.

Federation= whites/ american peaceful, when need to be, also used for a value comparison of other species. Very democratic, yet can be corrupt. The first star trek sort of was the wild west, no real control over captains and their decisions. The later versions showed a real caring and understanding of other species.

I doubt I would call whites peaceful. I know I wouldn't call Americans peaceful

Am also not much of a Star Trek follower, but the Vulcan bit is definitely spot on, though I always thought the Klingons were a stereotypical depiction of Arabs, and even the language sounded to me harsh like Arabic.
There´s an article comparing Klingon and a (now dead) native American language called Mutsun (and also native american languages in general).
Klingon and Mutsun
("Conclusion: Klingon .... is based mainly on components of a general American Indian nature")
Perhaps then the "Enterprise & Co. versus Klingons" is a futuristic "Cowboys and Indians" allegory?

I was doing some reading recently that details the push for Star Trek to deal with the issue of homosexuality. Apparently early during the run of The Next Generation, Roddenberry had overseen the writing of a TNG episode that would have been titled "Blood and Fire" and would have had two male Enterprise crew members as a couple in the backdrop of an allegory about the mistreatment of people infected with AIDS. The station, unfortunately, refused to air it. The show's producer, however (Rick Berman) refused to produce the episode. Later on Roddenberry planned on introducing gay crew members to the show in the 5th season. Unfortunately, Roddenberry died shortly after announcing those plans, and this never materialized. There was eventually an episode, "The Outcast," in which Commander Riker falls in love with a member of an androgynous alien species known as the J'naii. The J'naii viewed the expression of any sort of gender as a perversion. When Riker and Soren's affair is discovered, the J'naii force Soren to undergo psychotherapy, essentially brainwashing Soren. There is a pretty clear allegory in the episode for contemporary attitudes towards homosexuality, but the episode did not have quite the effect as it could have, as the J'naii were all played by female actors. Jonathan Frakes (the actor who plays Riker) actually thought that Soren should have been played by a male actor, so that when they kiss in the episode it would be a much more powerful piece of social commentary. This would be especially appropriate as Star Trek was also host to TV's first inter-racial kiss.

Just as the kisses between Madonna shared with Brittany Spears and Christina Aguillera were powerful pieces of social commentaries?

I'd say the two situations are slightly different. For one thing, Madonna is not nearly as attractive as Frakes.

Please don't compare the races of StarTrek with races on Earth, Gene Roddenbery wrote Startrek so that differences between people didn't exist.

The Federation is great, if only something like that existed today.....

While I don't think the relation to races on Earth are exactly accurate, I don't think that merely because Roddenbury didn't write in human differences of the sort (which isn't entirely right) that its not a valid comparison.

But thats the whole ideal of the Federation, for equality and socialism. Hence no money in the Federation, also hence the reason Roddenbery chose that black woman to be on the cast as the comms officer in the original series - (I never really watched it so I don't know her name)

Yeah....I've gathered that. I started this topic.

But that doesn't mean the comparsion isn't valid. Its like saying that you can't view Platos "The Cave" bit to include Jesus and God, just because thats not what he was writing about. You can, it might not be orginal intent, but it can still work.

Hmmm,

I see your point.

This is mostly true. Gene Roddenbery really did want to depict a life where inequality didn't exist and everyone was for the most part free of the many harships that plaque the world today. He showed this right off the bat with the original Star Trek series. If you notice, there's a north american, asian, russian, african american, scottish, and even a Vulcan to represent equality even with races not within the human race.

Gene Roddenbery's version of the future I believe is actually quite realistic. His version of the future depicts innovations changing society and politics to a point where peace, cooperation, and prosperity is all we know. For example, the replicator and the Transporter. Replicators immediately removes millions of jobs as well as the need for money. Give every family a replicator and world hunger and disease is gone. Only viruses are left, and replicators makes it a thousand times easier to do the research. Teleporters immediately either start war or end it. If the military has teleporters, they can instantly send troops to an enemy capital and take it over. Or they can immediately respond to a threat with police. Either way, Alliances and peace treaties would have to be formed for nations to protect themselves. Diplomacy would become the weapon of choice and the only choice. That's only two technologies Star Trek shows, and you can see how much they would impact the world. In Star Trek's case, it impacted the Federation in a positive way which is good, because if it didn't, I probably wouldn't watch it haha.

I believe with most of the races though, such as the Ferengi, Romulans, Vulcans, Cardassians, and Klingons, most of them were added just to put a new perspective on the series and adding those races is just like anything any other series does; add new characters to boost the possibilities. Sure the races do give us some things to think about, and are oddly close in relationship to some of the nations of today, but that's somewhat to be expected since we have little else to base alien civilizations off of. It's good though I think that they show how the Federation can effectively control a situation, and it sends a good message to its viewers.

I love Star Trek philosophy. It may be just a made up tv show, but some of the philosophy makes since, and the characters/races parallel with what we have to day.

Vulcan connections to ancient greeks, i've never heard that one before! :D

You forgot the Dominion! The Dominion is a huge inter-galactic empire with thousands of species, ruled by the founders, a race of gelatenous beings that can transform into virtually anything. I could go on and on, but basically their a bunch of "love and peace with an iorn fist" kind of government, a major dictatorship with a huge army as the police. That relates to a lot of incidents in real life, kind of like Iraq before we invaded, or North Korea, etc.

I hear ya. The Federation's theme song might as well be "Imagine", by the Beatles.

I didn't include the dominion because at the time I didn't really like DS9. Actually, I still don't like it compared to the others, but yeah.

I would imagine the dominion represents a sort of soviet/fascist state.

Soviet Union would make since, since in communism you work for the good of the state. In the dominion, you work for the "good" of the founders. Facist also makes since cause it's one huge dictatorship.

To what extent do the Dominion actually believe they are working towards the greater good? I mean, its obviously a facade for them to be able to conquer and all, but do they buy their own bullshit or what?

Again, not that huge of a DS9 fan, so I'm a bit uncertain.

Well, the Founders are all about imposing their view of "order" on everyone else. The Dominion may be bent on galactic domination, but Weyoun (in case you don't know, he's an annoying dominion official) always goes on about how we can live in peace and harmony (under dominion rule, that is).

Plus, the Vorta (Weyoun's people) and the Jem'Hadar (genetically engineered soldiers) were genetically implanted to worship the founders, who run the dominion, so it's almost like a holy war, thus their own view of "greater good".