RESEARCH ASSISTANT NOTES

for ProfNoctis’ TLOU Series - 1st Game/Season

-by Smithianum

Week One: When You’re Lost in the Darkness (S1E1)

Gameplay locations: Austin (prologue); Boston - QZ (North End), Tunnels 

Themes: Nature of survival & grief, breakdown of societal structures, introduction of Joel & Ellie’s reluctant bond 

Aristotle’s Politics: Remake

TLOU Part I, Week One

"The polis is of nature, and so man is by nature a 'political' animal, 

and the man who lacks a polis--by nature, not by chance–

is either the lowest sort of man or a 'super-man'." 

- Aristotle, Politics Book I (trans. DJS) 

The Political Animal 

- When Aristotle famously described man as a "political animal" (ζῷον πολιτικόν), he did not mean that man's primary nature is to engage in politics. For him, the Greek city-state--the polis--was the best form and ultimate end of organized human society, and so man is naturally oriented towards creating the polis. 

- No man is completely self-sufficient; if he were, he'd be either a god-on-earth or an irrational beast. Rather, humans are interdependent social beings who require community and communion in order to flourish, from the family to the village to the city. Since the ultimate goal of this community is the polis, man is said to be naturally political. The "political animal" is not compelled to be civic, he is simply oriented to be so. In a similar way, the polis does not exist to enforce political life, but to secure the freedom and stability for its citizens to flourish (εὐδαιμονία). 

A Less Than Ideal State 

- The beginning of The Last of Us shows us the collapse of human society as the cordyceps infection spreads, the population panics, and the military attempts to take control of the major cities. This collapse manifests on the local level when Joel 1) shoots the infected neighbor, and 2) does not stop to help the family on the road ("Someone else will come along."). Joel becoming separated from his brother and then tragically losing his daughter provides an icon of society dissolving literally overnight. 

- 20 years later, a new kind of society is in place: the QZs, small walled sectors in what remains of the major cities. While there is a certain amount of cooperation and networking, there is no community and certainly no flourishing. It is neither free nor stable: law enforcement is zero-tolerance, strict curfews are enforced, and basic necessities cannot be guaranteed. It is also not secure, being actively undermined by both the people who live there and by the invading Fireflies. While these activities are transgressive and insurrectionist, they do stem from man's "political" orientation, rebelling against the inability or unwillingness of FEDRA to create a society that enables human flourishing.

- Outside the QZ walls and other isolated communities dwell–besides the hordes of infected–scattered raiders, slavers and lone survivors. They are like the "men who lack a polis," aiming at self-sufficiency, but whether that is by nature or by chance, or whether they are beasts or gods, may depend on whom you ask. 

- The Fireflies offer a promise of flourishing, or at least a light in the darkness. While more of a faction than a society, their aim is a restoration of the pre-collapse government, a freedom and stability beyond what the FEDRA oligarchy can or will provide. It is notable that the first sincere mention of the word "friend" in the game comes from the Firefly Queen Marlene, and that she speaks it in mourning. The moment illustrates the Fireflies' sense of not just cooperation but interdependence, which is a hallmark of "political animals." 

- Possibly the most telling line in this first section of the story is also one of the saddest: "Your watch is broken." The watch had been repaired by his daughter, and now the "cargo" who will become like a daughter points out that it is broken. Joel and those around him continue to be an icon of society, only now the icon illustrates that Joel--like society itself--is frozen in the past. (More to come on this one...)

Food for Thought 

- While modern society differs from the Greek polis in many ways, we remain no less political, seeking to order our societies towards what we see as conducive to human flourishing. The cordyceps infection, the collapse of society, and the hostile military takeover seem to have eliminated most chances of establishing such a society. But it is perhaps worth pondering how much the pre-collapse society--or even our own--recognizes the chances we already have. Would we have stopped for that family on the road the night the world ended? Would Joel have stopped the day before? 

Week Two: Infected (S1E2) 

Gameplay locations: Boston - Subway, Downtown, Capitol

Themes: Role of sacrifice in survival, fear & trust in a collapsing world, evolution of Joel & Ellie’s relationship

Aristotle’s Politics: Rebirth

TLOU Part I, Week Two

"It is of first necessity to speak of household law; for every polis is composed of households. 

...The smallest parts of a household are:  

master-and-slave, husband-and-wife, and father-and-children." 

- Aristotle, Politics Book I (trans. DJS) 

The Ideal Oikos (or, “Running a Tight Ship of State”)

- For Aristotle, the governance of a polis should be based on the management of a household (οἰκονομία - from which we get the word "economics"). Since the home (οἶκος) is the basic unit of the state, and the state is an aggregation of households (οἶκοι), the modes of governance should reflect each other. In each case, there is someone who naturally rules and someone who naturally is ruled. 

- In Aristotle's conception, the rule of a husband over his wife is "political"--that is, it functions like the polis in microcosm, with each having an "office" in the household for the sake of the betterment of all who are part of it. The husband is guardian of the house, its residents, and its property, as well as its link to the broader polis by virtue of being a legal citizen. The wife managed the functioning of the household, including finances and acquired property, as well as instructing the children and maintaining the household's reputation. 

- As the legal citizen, the husband was in the position of ruler, with the wife as the one who is ruled; however, "[h]ouses where there is no wife are neither orderly nor prosperous." Also, the rule of a father over his children was that of a monarch; he is their protector and their model of virtue, and his rule was to be directed toward the common interest of the whole household. Since "women are a half-portion of the free population, and children will become partners in governing the polis," the role of the ideal husband and father was to foster excellence in all parts of the household. In this way, all households would contribute to the excellence of the state. 

Home Life in the QZ (or, "Family? In This Economy?")

- Joel and Tess function as a makeshift οἶκος, which Aristotle defines as a "natural association for everyday purposes." While much more co-equal than a classical Greek household would have been, similar dynamics appear in our first encounters with them. Joel is obviously protective of Tess, chastising her for going to the West End alone and showing concern for her injuries (the guardian/protector role); Tess keeps track of supplies, develops plans of operation, and makes sure Joel stays healthy (the house manager role). With Tess as the brains and Joel as the brawn, the two provide for their everyday needs together in the QZ. 

- The introduction of Ellie into their dynamic gives Joel someone else to protect and gives Tess someone to guide and educate. While they resist these roles at first, Ellie's apparent immunity and the potential for a cure lead them at least to a sense of obligation, directed towards their common good of delivering Elie safely. Once they arrive at the Capitol Building, the Firefly massacre and Tess' revelation leads her to call on that sense of obligation, telling Joel to take Ellie west himself. Effectively managing this makeshift household, she ensures that Joel will protect Ellie and Ellie will stay close to Joel. 

- While the bond is tenuous due to emotion, trauma and unfamiliarity, Joel's guardianship of Ellie, Ellie's pledged obedience to Joel, and Tess' establishment of both in her final sacrifice, can be seen as the beginning of a restoration of family and household order. If this dynamic can be maintained--and we can track this as the story progresses--it carries with it the hope that the order of the state itself may one day be restored. 

- It is worthy of note that the progression of these dynamics move from arrival at Boston's Old State House (the seat of the British colonial government), through a museum of Revolutionary War history, and to culminate at the "new" State House, built when Massachusetts had become an independent state. Perhaps this new "house" holds out the hope of a new "state." 

Food for Thought

- Pope John Paul II once remarked that "[a}s the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live." The last 50 years or so have seen many changes in what constitutes a family or household. But as law, culture and technology all evolve, this variety of household units are arguably atomized and isolated, rather than oriented and connected to some common good safeguarded by the state. Perhaps the increasing instability and degeneracy we see even at the highest levels of government is not just a coincidence. Maybe that's why "politics is less local than it used to be." 

Week Three: Long Long Time (S1E3) 

Gameplay locations: Lincoln - Woods, Safehouse, Graveyard, High School

Themes: Love & hope amidst despair, importance of human connection, autonomy in choosing one’s fate

A Frank Tale of Two Bills

TLOU Part I, Week Three

"We suppose the ultimate good to be self-sufficient. 

We do not say "self-sufficient" for oneself alone--one who lives a solitary life–

but for one's parents and children and wife and all one's friends and fellow-citizens, 

for man is by nature 'political'" 

- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Book I (trans. DJS) 

Living Your Best Life 

- Pursuit of human goodness is, according to Aristotle, "an activity of the soul." Just as a household, a city and a state consist of the ruler and the ruled, in the same way the soul is meant to rule the body, since man's intellect and rational capacity are part of the soul. In Aristotle's concept of rule, the greater always rules the lesser for the sake of the lesser; power is perverted when the ruler rules for his own sake (for example, a tyranny is a perverted monarchy).

- This activity of the soul is done in accordance with excellence or virtue. This is done by trying to achieve a balance between two extremes of behaviors and emotions (for example, if the two extremes of temper are rage and passivity, one can achieve virtue by recognizing which of the two extremes one is closest to and moving in the opposite direction). As one achieves a balance of several behaviors and emotions, one gets closer to achieving moral perfection and greater human flourishing (εὐδαιμονία). 

- The role of the polis in the cultivation of virtue is to secure freedom and stability for its citizens so that they may choose to pursue excellence and goodness. If those who participate in the rule of the polis are pursuing excellence, the polis as a whole becomes more conducive to the flourishing of its people. It is not a necessity for pursuing or even achieving a virtuous life, however, and it is even possible to live a good life under a less-than-good form of government, provided one can look inward honestly and take the advice of one's friends (who, ideally, are also trying to be virtuous). 

- The pursuit of excellence cannot be done on one's own, and no human being is completely self-sufficient. It also requires the accumulation and management of enough basic goods that one has the leisure time (schole) to devote to the pursuit of excellence, for which at least some form of community or household is required.

'Cause You've Gotta Have Friends...Right?

- Bill is a survivalist living alone in the ruins of the town of Lincoln, who begrudgingly partners with Joel in smuggling operations. His paranoia and illusions of self-sufficiency led him to abandon his partner Frank. He is the ultimate "man who lacks a polis"--initially by chance due to the infection and FEDRA, but in his reasoning for abandoning Frank (“I realized it’s just gotta be me.”) he has assumed the nature of an "apolitical animal." 

- Unlike Joel, Tess, and Ellie, Bill and Frank's makeshift household could not have signalled a hope for a resurgence of the state (in Aristotle's conception). Neither man would allow himself to be ruled--or put another way, neither would allow himself to act for the other's good--which led to their separation, Bill's resentment, and Frank's hatred. Bill's illusion of self-sufficiency could not be broken, culminating in Bill's final line to Joel: "Get the f*** out of my town." In the end, Frank is the ruler of an empty world, thinking himself a super-man while acting barely human. 

- In the show, however, they come close to helping each other pursue excellence; Frank is able to help Bill look inward and create the conditions for meeting Joel and Tess. Through association with them, Bill's illusion of self-sufficiency weakens and eventually breaks, allowing himself to find balance in his behaviors and emotions while not giving up his role as a protector and survivalist. Their partnership creates the conditions for life to be more than labor and endurance; the presence of a garden and artwork shows secure opportunities for leisure and the ability to live life well. 

Food for Thought 

- A question arises as to how much, and in what way, Frank "rules" Bill in the show. From the beginning Frank seems to hold a tremendous amount of sway over Bill, through his intuition and charisma. As the relationship progresses, Bill softens towards Frank and becomes protective of him, willing not just to rule but to be ruled in turn ("I was never afraid until I met you."). Conversely Frank continues to be demanding of Bill until the end, to the point of ruling him for his own good rather than for Bill's ("Do you love me? Then love me the way I want you to."). This shift can be telegraphed by their seating positions when eating (a preeminent social activity): from each sitting at the ends of the table, to sitting next to each other when lunching with Joel and Tess (who also sit next to each other), to Frank sitting at one end while Bill sits on the side in a subordinate position--he has given up his place at the head of the table. 

- While Bill insists that his decision to die with Frank "isn't the tragic suicide at the end of the play" (because he is "satsified"), it is a serious action that regards matters of importance to us and arouses pity, fear and catharsis--all components of Aristotle's definition of tragedy. Unlike in the game, Bill in the show was able to give Frank the kind of life he wanted, but in the end it destroyed him. His pursuit of virtue ends with the end of Frank, because Bill will no longer rule himself. 

- By contrast, one could also argue that, with Bill being "satisfied" and having fulfilled his purpose, they both have achieved a form of self-sufficiency together as a team. Their partnership has allowed their lives to flourish, even amidst the insecurity and fear of life beyond the gate. Even if one could view Frank as a tyrant rather than a true partner, Bill's assertion of his own will at the end can illustrate how a good life is possible in less-than-good conditions. 

- Whether it is an act of virtue to abandon one's own life is likewise an open question here.

Week Four: Please Hold to My Hand (S1E4) 

Gameplay locations: Pittsburgh - Fort Duquesne Bridge Area, Hotel, Financial District 

Themes: Cost of rebellion & leadership, Joel’s violent past & Ellie’s growing adaptation, trust in a lawless world 

INTERmission: The Anti-polis

TLOU Part I, Week Four

"First there needs to be stores of food; then, skillcraft (for living requires many tools); 

third, weapons (for those who live in common need to have weapons among themselves, 

both for ruling the disobedient and on account of those from outside who attempt to be unjust); 

then, an abundance of money sufficient for their own needs and for the needs of war; 

fifth, yet foremost, the attention to divine matters which they call priesthood; 

and sixth in number but of greatest necessity, 

discernment between what is advantageous and what is just for each other's benefit." 

- Aristotle, Politics Book VII (trans. DJS) 

- No human being is entirely self-sufficient; we need community and communion to thrive and survive. The purpose of the polis was to secure the freedom and stability necessary to enable its citizens the opportunity to pursue excellence and live well. For Aristotle, the polis was the best form of society because, through the cooperation of its citizens and its households, it was a self-sufficient community; it could do for each citizen what he could not accomplish by himself. 

- In order to achieve this self-sufficient community, however, six elements or "works" (ἔργα) were necessary: 1) an abundance of stored food, 2) practical knowledge of different means of production, 3) having weapons for policing and protecting citizens, 4) sufficient funds for the needs of the people, 5) attention to matters of religion, and 6) faculty of judging what is best for each citizen. If any of these "works" were missing, the polis was not truly self-sufficient. 

- Most societal groupings in The Last of Us possess at least some of these "works," and to greater or lesser degrees. For example: while food in the QZ was rationed and other supplies had to be smuggled in, those who lived there could work various tasks to maintain infrastructure, while FEDRA officers could police and protect them and could judge what was in the best interest of the zone (even if those judgments were morally questionable).

- The Hunters, however, possess none of the six "works." They constantly scavenge for and violently steal food and other supplies, they produce nothing and are barely interested in maintaining what they have, the large supply of weapons they have are used for attacking the "tourists" who try to pass through their territory or for silencing dissent in their ranks, and matters of religion and justice are far removed from their consciousness. In their zeal to overthrow FEDRA and be subject to no one but themselves, they have effectively created for themselves an anti-polis, with no common good, no pursuit of excellence, and no means to achieve either one. 

Week Five: Endure and Survive (S1E5) 

Gameplay locations: Pittsburgh - Sewers, Suburbs 

Themes: Moral weight of survival, Ellie’s revelation of her limits, tragedy of impossible choices

Two Oikoi, Both Alike in Dignity

TLOU Part I, Week Five

"The household is the community set up according to nature for all daily needs...
But the first community 

of several households useful for not simply living day-to-day 

is a village." 

- Aristotle, Politics Book I (trans. DJS) 

It Takes a Village 

- At its heart, a polis is a collection of households (οἶκοι) under common rule for a common good. So the unit cell of the polis is the household (οἶκος), and the ideal polis is managed in the same way as a household. But, any given oikos suffices only for the needs of that oikos. When two or more come together for something more than their own individual needs, a society is formed (or to use Aristotle's term, a "village"--a community without fortifications). 

- The difference between this kind of society from a polis is that a polis has rulers and facilitates progression of virtue; the "village" society is collaborative, but is formed more out of necessity than for the sake of moral excellence. The polis enables its members to be self-sufficient in a way they cannot be independently; a "village" enables oikoi to do more together than they can alone, but they are not yet a self-sufficient community. 

- While cooperation among oikoi was essential for the polis to function, and for the polis to be conducive to human flourishing (εὐδαιμονία), it did require each oikos to "get out of its comfort zone." As the head of the household, every husband/father was the guardian and protector of the people and property that constituted his oikos. So while every other oikos was a potential ally, it was also a potential threat. 

- To give an example: in classical Athens, marriage was a risky proposition, as a woman "belonged" either to her father or to her husband. Therefore, her husband had no true way of knowing with which oikos her loyalties would lie: his or her father's. But it was a risk that had to be taken in order to establish partnership with another house, and to build a house of his own. 

Coworkers in the Field 

- In Pittsburgh, after navigating the anti-polis of the Hunters (see Week 4 notes), Joel and Ellie stumble upon the oikos of Henry and Sam. They have lost contact with their "village" or other survivors from Hartford, but end up establishing a new one along with the still-forming oikos of Joel and Ellie. 

- This new association starts out in conflict and distrust, with guns turned on each other as personal space is invaded. Even when Henry solicits Joel's help to get past the Hunters, Joel remains very guarded and protective, even as Ellie tries to connect with Sam and especially after the incident at the bridge where Joel feels abandoned by Henry. But by the time they are ready to escape the suburbs, their partnership of necessity has evolved to the point of wanting to journey together to get to Tommy and the Fireflies--a goal that aligns with yet transcends the needs of both oikoi. 

- The association ends with the tragic self-destruction of Henry's oikos. Henry's inability to live with failing to protect Sam leads him to end himself, and in doing so he brings the resurgent society back to square one, with just Joel and Ellie continuing the journey. Henry's first "village" died after their separation, and now he has killed the second one. 

Food for Thought 

- How many of us have relations with our neighbors? Community groups? College clubs? Religious associations? What are our reasons? Do we not have time? Can we not be bothered? Or are we afraid? And what does our isolation cost us on that level? Does being less social and less vulnerable make us less human? 

Week Six: Kin (S1E6) 

Gameplay locations: Jackson County - Hydroelectric Dam, Ranch House; Colorado - University Campus, Science Building

Themes: Weight of responsibility, family & identity in a changed world 

INTERgrade: The Ties That Bind

TLOU Part I, Week Six 

"The polis is a community of several villages, complete in itself, 

already having a goal of (in a word) self-sufficiency, 

coming into being for the sake of living, 

and continuing in existence for the sake of living well." 

- Aristotle, Politics Book I (trans. DJS) 

- An oikos is a polis in microcosm, and the polis provides for the oikoi in a way that each can't do by itself. Many households make a village, and a collection of villages make a city-state. A society depends upon cooperation and communion among groups of houses to be self-sustaining, but each house is also a self-contained entity defending itself and its interests, at times in competition with other houses. 

- Tommy and his wife Maria, along with other families, have made the town of Jackson a self-sustaining community, with farms, vegetation, and electricity. The show elaborates on how Jackson sustains itself, and Aristotle's six works of a polis (see Week 4 notes) are on full display: stores of food; enough technical knowledge to repair and maintain the dam; ability to defend themselves from infected and raiders; enough supplies to trade with each other and ensure everyone's needs are met; an interfaith religious center; and a jail in case it is needed. 

- Throughout his time in Jackson, Joel struggles with his brother's independence, Tommy's new household and his own developing role as the head of his own new one. Even before they get there, he confesses to Ellie "I don't know what I'm feeling." He makes no comment on Tommy's marriage to Maria, and stubbornly refuses a photo Tommy offers of Joel and his daughter. And in trying to transfer his "cargo" to his brother, Joel is not only shrugging off his duty to the girl that Tess charged him with protecting, but doing so under the guise of still having authority over Tommy as his older brother and former protector, even though Tommy's loyalty is to his own household. 

- Joel's ongoing refusal to accept his new role threatens to upend the lives of those around him. Maria argues that Tommy will be too exposed to danger and does not want to become a widow, and Ellie runs off, forcing Joel and Tommy to follow and therefore exposing Tommy to more danger from raiders. Joel's decision not only endangers Ellie and Tommy, but threatens the peaceful order of Tommy's household and the community at Jackson they have worked to maintain. The Hidden Pines ranch house in which Ellie hides serves as a symbol of this rupture, a place isolated from the rest of the society where Ellie feels she is losing her last chance not to be alone; she will "just be more scared" without Joel. 

- In the end, Joel unenthusiastically resumes guardianship of Ellie and Tommy tells them that they have a place in the community at Jackson. Tommy has said that Jackson offers a "second chance," but Joel is still reluctant to take that chance, preferring to lord the past over Tommy and to tell a girl who has lost everyone she knows that she "[has] no idea what loss is." Joel may recite the mantra "Things happen and you move on," he seems to be the only one who hasn't. And if he can't, he'll be a "man who lacks a polis" of his own making. 

Week Seven: Left Behind (S1E7) 

Gameplay locations: Boston - Mall (TLOU: Left Behind)

Theme: Youth & loss, first experience of love & heartbreak 

Week Eight: When We Are in Need (S1E8) 

Gameplay locations: Abandoned House, Cabin Resort 

Themes: Predation & manipulation, Ellie’s transformation through trauma 

Sic Semper Tyrannis

TLOU Part I, Week Eight 

"The deviations [of the forms of government] are 

tyranny from kingship, oligarchy from aristocracy, and democracy from polity. 

For a tyranny is a monarchy for the benefit of the sovereign himself; 

an oligarchy is for the benefit of the wealthy, 

and a democracy is for the benefit of the needy–

–and none of them are advantageous for the common good." 

- Aristotle, Politics Book III (trans. DJS) 

Government for the People? 

- Aristotle argues that there are three basic forms of government, and a polis can in theory be governed by any of the three: kingship, rule of one for the good of all; aristocracy, rule of the best few for the good of all; and polity, rule by the many for the good of all. However, when those who rule seek their own good rather than the common good, these forms become perverted: polity becomes democracy (for the good of certain citizens only), aristocracy becomes oligarchy (for the good of the powerful few), and kingship becomes tyranny (for the good of one at the expense of all). 

- For Aristotle, kingship should be the best form of government, but a true kingship is not attainable as the ruler would have to be self-sufficient in himself--i.e., a god. Consequently, monarchs need to share rule with select others in a quasi-aristocratic hierarchy. For example, the Kings of Bronze Age Greece governed by means of complex administrative systems, with the king (or wanax) as a "head of household" figure, the diplomatic point of contact with other rulers and host of religious festivals and banquets (NB: see “Thyestean feast”). 

- As a perversion of both an "unattainable" form of government and a father's rule over his household, tyranny is most dangerous for the ruler. It requires the tyrant either to enforce his rule by military might or to "divide and conquer" by engaging in a sort of class warfare, playing each side against the other while giving them just enough of what they want in order to maintain the illusion of control. 

Priest, Prophet, Cannibal 

- David community at Silver Lake is a kind of twisted inversion of Jackson. Whereas in Jackson the different households worked together to accomplish more than they could individually, the oikoi of Silver Lake operate only at David's will and for his purposes; he is the father and ruler of all. Where the people of Jackson showed concern for one another's well-being, the people of Silver Lake (including James) are simply the means to David's ends, whether as food or labor. And where Jackson has developed to sustain itself properly, Silver Lake is dependent on the unnatural food David can provide. 

- David's encounter with Ellie puts his tyranny at risk. He first lures her in by feigning partnership and protection. But vengeance for the death of one of their own sees David's "foot soldiers" and even his right hand James start to disobey and doubt. They can only be silenced by the force of David's presence, but the revelation of Ellie's infection and her killing of James ruin any further attempt at control; without any other mechanism of control left to him, David must now resort to open violence and taunting to try to rein her in. 

- The restaurant where Ellie's final battle with David takes place (a location prominently featured in this part of the show) serves as an appropriately iconic backdrop; David's role as a commander of order and provider of the feast makes the restaurant his temple, his palace, his labyrinth. Most tellingly, the banner on the wall--"When we are in need, he shall provide"--highlights not just how David sees himself but how he maintains control over his people. 

- David's final end, however, comes as he tries to usurp Joel's place as Ellie's father-substitute. His final words to her in both the game ("You have no idea what I'm capable of") and the show ("I've decided you do need a father" and "There's no fear in love") pervert Joel's reluctant role in her life as guardian and protector, while assaulting everything about Ellie that a father is supposed to guard and protect. Accordingly, Joel's "baby girl" rebels and destroys him in his own house. 

Food for Thought 

- In ancient Greece, a "citizen": was defined as one who simply had the ability to participate in political life, whether he did so or not. This privilege was afforded in Athens only to free, land-owning male Athenians. But while women, slaves and foreigners were not citizens, the action of citizens was to be undertaken on their behalf. As a result, any competition among the heads of various oikoi could lead either to statesmanship that preserves the concept of the oikos or to self-interested agendas that weakened that concept in favor of strengthening individuals or classes. In today's democracy, does the state truly exist for its households, or is it the other way around? 

- For Aristotle, a form of government becomes perverted when those who govern seek their own interests rather than the common good. Current news media has been illustrating that story as of late, but it's worth noting that these things don't just happen because of one thing or one person. David, the Hunters, and FEDRA did not become perverted rulers overnight, even if they wanted to be. If we find ourselves in such a place with our own democratic government, it may be worth asking: How did we get here? How did "the people" allow this to happen? And do we recognize anything as the "common good," or is agenda all that's left? 

Week Nine: Look for the Light (S1E9) 

Gameplay locations: Salt Lake City - Highway, Tunnel, Hospital; Jackson (Epilogue) 

Themes: Ethics of Joel’s decision, illusion of choice in a broken world 

Promises to Keep

TLOU Part I, Week Nine

"Many are able to engage in excellence in their own affairs, 

but yet cannot do so towards another. For this reason, 

the [saying] seems well to hold that 'rule shows the man,' 

for rulers are in fact both for the benefit of others and a part of the community." 

- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Book V (trans. DJS) 

Truth, Justice and the Aristotelian Way--Oversimplified 

- Achieving human flourishing (εὐδαιμονία) is a result of the pursuit of virtue, or excellence (ἀρετή), an activity which the household, friendships, and the polis are meant to facilitate. Any virtue is the balance, or mean, between two excesses or behavior, and the balance of several behaviors leads to greater flourishing. For example, the virtue of truth is a balance between the extremes of boastfulness and false humility. 

- For Aristotle, justice is the virtue of virtues, a balance of proportion in which each gets what is his due, whether in terms of wealth, honor, duty, agreements, etc. (The excesses it balances are taking too much for oneself at others' expense, and being denied what is one's own because another took more than is his.) Unlike other virtues like truth, justice does not operate in the abstract as simply a mark of a person's character, but involves the application of those marks of character to real concrete stakes affecting relationship with and to others. 

- Justice is considered unqualified when it is exercised among the citizens (i.e., those who have the capacity to participate in rule of the polis). Since citizens take turns ruling and being ruled by each other, they are all considered to possess equal ethical agency. But other forms of justice that do not take place among full equals are still considered valid. For example, the justice of a man towards his wife is qualified by the fact that his wife is not a citizen, and therefore does not have capacity to rule; nevertheless, she is still a free person and is co-equal to him in management of the oikos. 

- Similarly, the justice of parents towards children is qualified by the fact that the child is not of majority age or not yet married, and so is still subordinate to the parent; nevertheless, parents can act justly towards their children because they are responsible for them as parts of their own person--and no one is thought to be unjust towards oneself. 

This House May Not Be a Home 

- The fight for Ellie which constitutes the finale of Part I begins, ironically, with a resignation. Marlene, leader of the Fireflies, who set this whole journey in motion, who has known Ellie since birth and had promised her mother that she would take care of her, allows Ellie to be sacrificed for the potential good of all. Marlene had been charged with being responsible for Ellie as her own, yet allows violence to be done to her--and in so doing, she arguably invites violence against herself and the Fireflies. 

- Joel, on the other hand, fully embraces his role as guardian and protector--and he does so with a vengeance. Still conscious of his promise to Tess, having experienced the examples of Frank's, Henry's and Tommy's oikoi, and having been unleashed through Ellie's traumatic encounter with David, Joel no longer sees Ellie as cargo to be delivered but as his charge to be defended. He does for her what Marlene was supposed to do, and as a result he launches an all-out assault on all who would see Ellie as a mere thing (just like he used to). And in a final act of protection for this part of the story, Joel keeps the truth of what happened from Ellie, telling her the cure was not possible rather than that he chose to save her life over the possibility of ending the Cordyceps plague. 

- However, it may be too late for Joel to claim Ellie for his own oikos. Ellie has progressed from resenting Joel to learning from him, developing a rapport with him, and even wanting not to undertake the journey with anyone but him. Even though she was able ultimately to handle herself against David, she lowered her defenses once Joel showed up. But now, at the end of the journey, Awaking to find that the delivery of her immunity did not result in a cure, and for reasons that Joel is oddly cagey about, Ellie feels somewhat cheated and stripped of the agency she thought she had. Even in her request for confirmation ("Swear to me that everything that you said about the Fireflies is true."), she is not entirely sure of what Joel is telling her. For the first time in the journey, Ellie does not know if she can really trust the person who cares most for her. 

Food for Thought 

- For Joel, whose role as a guardian and protector has been restored, the demands of justice dictate that those who see Ellie as expendable be given their due. And in the process, he does for Ellie what he couldn't do for his daughter: he saves her life. For Marlene, allowing Ellie to live when her death could mean life for many others is unjust, taking away from what is due to others. And in the process, she does what she promised Ellie's mother she wouldn't do: she stopped looking after her good. At what point is justice rightly unqualified? 

- Marlene argues that Ellie would have wanted to let herself be sacrificed. Joel argues that's not for Marlene to decide, though he seems fine making that decision for her. Do any of us have the ethical agency to decide another citizen's, another loved one's, another person's life is worth more than another's, or even our own? Do the needs of the many truly outweigh the needs of the few? And can human flourishing exist if those who are meant to help us achieve it have to die for it to happen? 

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