More thoughts on Characters and Japanese virtues
Well, I was trying to figure out what virtue would best describe Al, but I ended up thinking a lot about Samantha, and I realized Samantha also had a virtue that has become heavily corrupted. Survivors has the best examples of absolute and relative morality according to Shinto and Confucious standards that I have seen.
Abby is Jin or absolute/natural morality whereas Samantha is Rei or relative/social morality. At the start of the series, society/civilization was intact. Samantha was a compassionate and considerate individual who genuinely cared about people. The problem with Rei is that it can only thrive within the society/civilization this virtue-bearer was raised in. When society/civilization collapsed, Samantha lost her moral foundation. For someone who was so morally upright, this loss proved especially devestating. This dramatic loss explains why Samantha is so desperate to restore government and to restore civilization as she knew it, even trial-by-jury.
Unfortunately, when 99% of the population is dead, there is no turning back and no way for the previous civilization/society to recover. Thus, there is nothing to maintain Samantha's previous moral standards. She becomes increasingly corrupt, becomes devoid of virtue, and becomes evil. Everything she proclaims is a farce.
Abby on the other hand is Jin or absolute/natural morality. Unlike Samantha, Abby can maintain her compassion and consideration wherever she is at. She doesn't need any society or civilization for her moral foundation. She has proven her strong sense of Jin repeatedly throughout the series. It is interesting, but I believe Abby and Samantha would have been great friends prior to the collapse. They both got along well in the episode where they met, and Abby intitially showed admiration for what Samantha was doing. Unfortunately, at the end of the episode, we and Abby saw Samantha begin her desent into corruption.
Abby is Jin or absolute/natural morality whereas Samantha is Rei or relative/social morality. At the start of the series, society/civilization was intact. Samantha was a compassionate and considerate individual who genuinely cared about people. The problem with Rei is that it can only thrive within the society/civilization this virtue-bearer was raised in. When society/civilization collapsed, Samantha lost her moral foundation. For someone who was so morally upright, this loss proved especially devestating. This dramatic loss explains why Samantha is so desperate to restore government and to restore civilization as she knew it, even trial-by-jury.
Unfortunately, when 99% of the population is dead, there is no turning back and no way for the previous civilization/society to recover. Thus, there is nothing to maintain Samantha's previous moral standards. She becomes increasingly corrupt, becomes devoid of virtue, and becomes evil. Everything she proclaims is a farce.
Abby on the other hand is Jin or absolute/natural morality. Unlike Samantha, Abby can maintain her compassion and consideration wherever she is at. She doesn't need any society or civilization for her moral foundation. She has proven her strong sense of Jin repeatedly throughout the series. It is interesting, but I believe Abby and Samantha would have been great friends prior to the collapse. They both got along well in the episode where they met, and Abby intitially showed admiration for what Samantha was doing. Unfortunately, at the end of the episode, we and Abby saw Samantha begin her desent into corruption.