Waking Ned Devine

Waking Ned Devine The viewer is introduced to the central moral dilemma in the film about 40 minutes in when Jackie and Michael find Ned dead in his house with his winning lottery ticket in hand. Jackie and Michael have been trying to find the one in their village who won the lottery to become friends with them and hopefully get some money from them, so when they find Ned, dead in his house, they have to decide whether they are going to commit fraud and try to claim the money, or let it go. A utilitarian would say to do it because having that money would bring them more pleasure, but a deontologist would say that they must not commit fraud in order to get the money because that would be lying and according to the categorical imperative we should never lie. The second categorical imperative comes into play as well because it would be using a human as a means to an end rather than an end in itself (although with Ned being dead, one could have an argument that that doesn’t come into play). Jackie makes the decision to lie because he has a dream and he believes that Ned has come to him and wants him to have the money. Jackie and Annie, as well as Jackie and Michael’s friendship both fall under Aristotle’s category of friendship based on goodness. In both friendships, each person wants what is best for the other person, and all things are shared with each other. Both Jackie and Annie’s marriage and Jackie and Michael’s friendship include benefiting from the other and pleasure from the other’s company, but they have that important thing where each wants to help the other reach their telos. This is shown in the case of Jackie and Annie when Annie finds out Jackie and Michael’s plan to get the money. She is upset because she doesn’t want Jackie or Michael to go to jail for fraud. She doesn’t think that will be what is best for either of them. The amount of winnings matters to Annie because when she finds out how much money it actually is she realizes how