Breaking Bad and Philosophy

 



Throughout the Breaking Bad series the main character, Walter White, struggles with the moral issues behind his actions. He was a chemistry teacher who recently found out that he had cancer. He didn't have the money for the treatments and didn't want to leave his family with no money so he turned to "cooking" meth to pay bills and keep his family afloat after his passing.
Walt constantly questions his actions, especially when his families lives were at stake and he had to decide between murdering someone and a drug lord slaughtering his entire family.
Is committing a serious crime (such as creating meth) a justified act if its to help his family?
Is it good or evil?
These questions, for me, are hard to answer. He is doing something that is considered by the justice system illegal but he is doing so to protect his family. So is it justified? Legally-no, it is not justified by any means. And if it was there would be countless criminals lining up to justify their acts for "moral" reasons-just to clear their name of whatever criminal act. So in matters concerning the law, it is not justified.
His own wife-oddly enough she shares my name-Skyler White had an incredibly difficult time dealing with the fact that her husband created Meth. She struggled with the information for a long time and almost turned him in to the police but couldn't do it. Not because she thought his actions were justifiable, but because she was worried about  the effect that it would have on her family.
So back to the question- are his actions good or evil?
Well I cannot say that he is evil. Period. He is trying to help his family and I just can't hate him for that. At the same time I cannot say that some of the things that he does is just down right bad. He could have taken money from a family friend to cover medical bills but his pride got the best of him and he turned it down. He had options, but he chose the illegal route. So are his actions evil?
Eh. Somewhat.To read a summary of the book Breaking Bad and Philosophy go to....