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Nathaniel Overthinks Death Note #04: The Utilitarianism of Light Yagami

3/2/2016

3 Comments

 
Philosophical Death Note News column - Nathaniel overthinks Death Note



What School of Thought produces Kira?

Taking a philosophical look
at the world of Death Note
is our deep thinking columnist
Nathaniel Brown

The curious thing about the ideology of Light Yagami is that while he shares his father’s passion for justice he seems to be a fundamentally utilitarian thinker.

Utilitarianism revolves around the idea that the worth of an action is the sum of the aggregate pleasure it creates for people. If an actions creates more good for society than it does bad, than it is a decent action. Under this line of thinking the means can justify the ends! During his insane soliloquy at the end of the series Light concedes that 'that killing people in itself is a crime', but that it had to be done.
For him, murdering people was a necessary crime to fix this 'rotten world'.

What strikes me about Light’s character is actually how perversely noble he is (that is not to say I agree with what he did). Of the five people who obtain and use the Death Note in the series: Higuchi, Light, Misa, Jack and Mikami (and possibly Near if Matsuda is to be believed) only Light and Mikami (under Light’s guide) used it for selfless purposes.

Higuchi used it to advance his career and Misa used the Death Note first to get close to Light, then later to impress him.  While Jack Neylon utilized it for purposes of organised crime. Light on the other hand used the Death Note purely to improve the world; and never for personal gain.

It’s hard to overstate just how few people in the World would ever do this. The Death Note represents the perfect opportunity to get away with anything you want for no cost.

Getting back to Light’s particular philosophy, it’s interesting to note that is his conception of using the death penalty as a deterrent is actually extremely successful (its success in reality is dubious at best). Crime rates drop drastically, organised crime and all that entails (slavery and the drug and sex trade) have almost completely ceased to exist and war is a thing of the past. This clearly provides a very real good for society.

This world is rotten - Death Note manga Boredom
While I wouldn’t argue Ohba is arguing that the death penalty is an effective deterrent, he is arguing humans have an innate fear of spirituality and the unknown, and perhaps an intuitive belief in God (hence why people are so willing to accept Kira as God). The reason why Light’s plan is so efficacious is because people perceive a God as infallible, but police officers regularly make mistakes. Hence why people were less likely to commit crimes when Kira was active.

In Yagami’s mind, the pain felt by criminals is nothing compared to the new found safety of innocent men, women and children and therefore his otherwise cruel actions are excusable.

Yagami’s beliefs come in the context of the Japanese legal system. Prosecutors often won’t take on criminals who haven’t confessed or there isn’t overwhelming evidence against in order to maintain a 100% conviction rate. Because of this many criminals walk free in Japanese society. The Japanese films make this element even more explicit than the anime with some of Light Yagami’s fury being actively caused by this absence of justice for the victims after he hacked into police computers and was horrified by the number of people who simply walked free.

Personally, I can’t help but wonder if Light Yagami’s utilitarianism might actually have been prudent within the context of his Universe. One could argue that it was a society based around fear, not justice, and while criminals certainly have a lot to be afraid of, for the common working man or woman I don’t think this holds true. Light Yagami is brilliant, and is unlikely to make errors when it comes to killing criminals, and so won’t kill innocents by mistake. While it’s likely some innocent people who have been arrested for crimes they didn’t commit are killed erroneously, I don’t think this would have been common. Light Yagami being too self-righteous to kill people whose guilt is uncertain. Furthermore, most people (from what we see) actively support Kira which would seem to imply that very few innocent people have been murdered by Kira (with the obvious exceptions of Raye, Naomi and other police officers who attempted to apprehend him).
 
With war and crime being a thing of the past, it’s fair to argue less people die by Light’s metaphorical hand than would have from crime in normal circumstances.

In 2012, the second last year of Light Yagami’s reign in the anime (and the only year I could find data for) over 437,000 people (approximately) were murdered.  In the universe of Death Note, Light says, “Global crime rates have been reduced by over 70%.” So lets apply this number to how many people were murdered under his rule that year, and 437,000 in that one year becomes 131,000; a difference of 306,000. This means 306,000 people were saved from murder in that one, hypothetical year. This number, if you assume it holds true to the four years Light rules after the death of L, becomes 1,024,000.

This naturally excludes lives indirectly saved such as those would no longer die from the drug trade in the absence of major cartels. It also doesn’t factor in the great reductions in other horrific crimes and the beneficial impact that will have on many innocent people’s lives. Light Yagami was in many ways therefore justified, though he killed many, less people died on the whole and so it can be successfully argued that the means justify the ends.
 
 One thing is certain though, even if you don’t agree with what I’ve written, Light Yagami is definitely a supporter of capital punishment.

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3 Comments
Joseph Miller
22/4/2016 16:53:10

While you present one valid, well thought argument, there's just a couple issues I have with it, the first being Light's supposed selfless reasons for using the Death Note. While it may have had selfless roots, Light very much wanted to be the one with all the power in the end, a "god" of sorts, as he mentions early in the series. I think his actions actually represented the deepest of selfishness.

The second issue I have is with your justification of Light Yagami in general. Subverting people's rights and undermining the criminal justice system doesn't make the greatest foundation for a new world if one were to attempt to establish one, unless, of course, one's aim was a totalitarian state ruled by fear and intimidation. I don't think the number of lives saved justifies the wanton murder of countless others, especially when one operates outside the law, away from any oversight or accountability.

Also, at the end, the ends is what justifies the means, not the other way around.

Reply
Mujtaba Hussain link
21/5/2016 23:14:19

Ah so I'm not the only one who overthinks death note.
I've always thought of Light Yagami to be extreme utilitarianism. His reasons were selfless. In my opinion any perceived selfishness he had was of the result of him feeling as though he was a God, bringing down justice over the whole world (if any human felt as though they were changing the world for the better, they'd be proud of themselves) , and as a God who was always doing the best thing for humanity ( in his opinion at least) he wanted everyone to respect that God, and the order he wishes to establish.

Reply
Emily
23/10/2022 23:47:57

So, old article but I simply don't think Light was altruistic.

Even in the first chapter, while speaking to Ryuk, he declares himself as God of the New World. While here, there does seem to be an underlying (if perhaps childish in ways) want to fix the world so that good people like his father are safe, the want for power and control is very much present. It's apparent even in a quick surface read as I can say my first read through of the manga distinctly left me with this impression.

Later, when he regains his memories, he goes after L purely because L stands against him and poses a real threat. Light literally states that L is defying him and the manga uses heavily specific religious imagery here with Light as a god/savior set to be worshipped. It could even be argued that Light really didn't need to kill L at this time. He had ownership of the Death Note - why not just lend that one to Rem (as he knew where the other one was) and have her pretend like she was leaving. Set it up so that L can neither test the 13 day rule while cementing his innocence/L's overreach to the others, and allow for a plausible out for one when he starts the killings again. But nope - he endangers Misa after mercilessly using her in order for L to die, gloating the whole time, even in L's last second's alive.

Just these two events alone really shows for me that he never had an altruistic or utilitarian view. Honestly, for me, I think the post-Yotsuba arc would have been more interesting if he had learned something from all of that and went more that way instead of just instantly becoming what he was again, but that's a whole other matter.

Unfortunately, for this story, even in the very early stages, while Light places the burden on himself to being the strong one to rid the world of rotten people - the fact that only he alone deems who is rotten pretty quickly leads to his corruption and lust for power, examples of which can be seen early in the story with the deaths of Penber and Misora.

All that being said - I do like your other writings on Death Note. This one just feels very off the mark for me.

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