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Nathaniel Overthinks Death Note #03: L's Philosophical Materialist Thinking

13/1/2016

1 Comment

 
Nathaniel Brown Philosophical Death Note column on Death Note News




If even L can be met in his Philosophy, then
resident Death Note News columnist, our
over-thinking Nathaniel Brown
is the man for the job.

Near (no pun intended) the beginning of Death Note, L famously proclaims “I am justice”, which is funny because he has no such interest in justice.

It’s always been an amusing quirk that the character who heads the task force wasn’t pursing the world’s most prolific serial killer for moral reasons, but rather for his own amusement. In fact, there seems to be a massive juxtaposition between the L at the start of Death Note, and the L we see when the task force finally meets him in person.

Partially I think this is because Ohba didn’t fully know what he wanted to do with the character at the start of the series. The early L looks composed, almost handsome when we see his face. He talks about how Kira is evil to the International Criminal Police Organization with deep passion and seems to truly believe it. However, in the Death Note One Shot L tells the children of Wammy House, “It’s not a sense of justice. Figuring out cases is my hobby. If you measured good and evil by current laws, I would be responsible for many crimes.”

L Describes his Morality in the Death Note One Shot

L's Morality in Death Note
Death Note One Shot - L isn't justice
This is true - very early on into the series, an L who views Kira as evil is clearly a hypocrite. He lets Lind. L Tailor die to prove Kira can kill without being there in person. He attempts to let the Yotsuba Group kill criminals in order to prove their guilt and is willing to let a criminal possibly die to test the '13 day Rule'.

Whether or not you agree with these actions is moot, he’s prepared to kill criminals to catch a man who kills criminals. This is morally self-defeating in the worst way possible. The most consistent look at L (at least from the manga and anime) is one who, while not completely without redeeming features, isn’t concerned with higher values.
Death Note L with Skull

Alas poor Yagami, I knew him...
L. Lawliet in Hamlet mode
L, is in many ways the antithesis to Light. Whereas Light is handsome and meticulously dressed, L is dishevelled. Light is charming; L is almost autistic. Light is extremely moral; L doesn’t seem to believe in morals.

The only traits they do seem to share is that they’re both chronic liars and are extremely brilliant.
 
I doubt L ever thought about his Philosophy in these terms; but he is fundamentally a materialist thinker. Materialists believe that there is no objective morality and good and evil are entirely human concepts (think of Hamlet’s famous proclamation, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”) and that existence is entirely physical.

It’s not hard to view L in such terms.
Read More Philosophical Death Note Articles


1 Comment
B-Movie Paul link
17/7/2017 16:09:27

Interesting take. If L is a Materialist, then I'd say that say Near is most likely an absurdist. In his first appearance, Near refers to the Kira case as a "game" and calls L a loser for dying. I think Near viewed all of existences as ultimately pointless, but could find some level of amusement out of the lack of meaning. L is similar in character, though he seems though he does seem to have some hold some values as sacred. It's unclear whether L really viewed Light as a friend or not, or even what "friendship" means to him. However, I don't think he was completely adverse to having some kind of connection to others. Near conversely referred to Mello as a friend. However, friends in Near's perspective were subordinates who could be discarded when they were no longer useful. Near would also turn someone's morality against them, reducing complex morality quandaries to a simple "good" or "bad". After Light's speech when he is exposed as Kira, Near responds by calling him "just another a psychotic murderer". To Near, there's no distinction between someone like Light and a petty thief. This is also shown once again when he calls the "new Kira", from the one shot manga, an "abominable murderer", thus stopping his reign in a single sentence. To Near, there's no difference between mass murder and petty theft, or at least one that was worth any thought. Everything was reduced to a childish game of cops and robbers, where it didn't really matter who was "good" or "evil", just who could play the game better. Before his death in the manga, L says that he lost "for now". This indicates that he saw the Kira case to some degree as more than just a game with a winner and a loser. Near conversely would have probably seen losing to Light as a complete loss. The game would have been over at that point.

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