Doctor Who and Philosophy

by Courtland Lewis

  Schopenhauer reasoned that our bodies are objects as any other object that we can know subjectively by the same perception and conception through which we’re related to the noumenal world. He went on to reason that we each have an inner knowledge of our bodies that is direct, non-sensory, and non-intellectual. This special and very limited type of knowledge gives us a glimpse of the noumenon that Kant thought was beyond us. The view is largely incomplete, “Consciousness is the mere surface of our mind, and of this, as of the globe, we do not know the interior but only the crust.”109 Thus Schopenhauer showed us how we could access, however superficially, the noumenal world, and the thing-in-itself as Will. Our bodies, like other material objects, are the objectification of the Will to our subjective selves.

  When the Doctor says of the Master, “In many ways we have the same mind” (“Logopolis,” 1981), we should take him literally. The Master is just an aspect of the Doctor; he’s the Will that exists in all of us. But in the Doctor Who story, the Master is personified (made part of the phenomenal world) for our entertainment and ease of understanding the conflict of good and evil. Why’s the Will evil? The Will is energy or force. We don’t understand any purpose driving it. Our sense of causality is the experience of what it does, not why. Our “laws of physics” just lay out the patterns of causality with which we’re familiar, not the reasons for those patterns. No sense of ‘why’ is apparent outside of theological imaginations. We might ascribe to pessimists this first principle, “The undisciplined use of force is inherently evil.” Schopenhauer certainly thought that the pointlessness of the Will was sufficient reason to cast it as evil.

  The Master’s Will

  The Master made his first appearance in “Terror of the Autons,” shown in January of 1971. The Doctor was played by Jon Pertwee; the Master by Roger Delgado. This episode best illustrates the various themes that characterize the relationship between the Doctor and the Master, which appear in endless variations throughout the series.

  The episode begins with the Master’s TARDIS appearing on a carnival lot. An unpleasant carnival person, apparently the owner of the carnival, accosts the Master, rudely asking him who he is and telling him he doesn’t need a conjurer, a reference to the abrupt appearance of the TARDIS. The carnival owner identifies himself as Louis de Rossini, but the Master tells him disparagingly he is Hugh Russell.

  Recall that Schopenhauer had reasoned that the noumenal world, being largely inaccessible to us, should be considered as one thing, the noumenon. Therefore, the Will is one thing, so while we’re identifying the Will as the Master and as a counterpart of the Doctor, we must also realize that the Master exists in each of us, including Hugh Russell. Hugh has assumed a fancy European name, Louis de Rossini, but his inner self, his own Master, knows better. The Master hypnotizes him and tells him that unfortunately he, the Master, needs Hugh. We may have an evil side in the Master, but that evil side is stuck with our good side.

  We flash to the Doctor before whom a man in a bowler hat, obviously a Time Lord, appears to inform him that the Time Lord Tribunal has sent him to warn the Doctor that the Master is on earth expressly to kill the Doctor. That information is, of course, for the audience along with the conversation that follows. The Doctor expresses contempt for the Master and refers to him as an “unimaginative plodder.” Bowler hat reminds the Doctor that the Master’s degree in Cosmic Science was of a higher class than the Doctor’s. The Doctor replies that he was a late bloomer. The Doctor is obviously wrestling with his own shortcomings.

  The Autons are a race called the Nestene. They need plastic to materialize. When we see them briefly as they really are (the thing-in-itself?), they appear as bright lights—a familiar movie visual cue for a pure energy life form. The Master wants to help the Nestene take over the Earth (after all, they’re aspects of the same Will), so he assumes the identity of a military man, a colonel, and enlists Mr. Rex Farrel, owner of a plastics factory that isn’t doing well financially. Farrel is hypnotized by what we should understand is now the Master as Farrel’s evil counterpart in the hope of reversing the financial state of his family business. The Master has no obvious reason for helping the Nestines or for using the unfortunate Mr. Farrel. The Master is the Will personified, a pointless force more likely to be harmful than beneficial.

  Meanwhile, the Doctor is aware of the Nestene invasion and has assumed correctly that the Master will be helping them. He has an assistant, Jo Grant, who serves for conversation to let the audience know what’s going on, as well as getting into dangerous situations from which she must be rescued and in turn rescue the Doctor from his own folly. The Doctor tells Jo that vanity is the Master’s weakness. Jo goes to the plastics factory ostensibly to look around, but she’s captured by the Master. The Master, and now he’s the Doctor’s counterpart, tells Jo that curiosity is the Doctor’s weakness and sends her back to the Doctor, hypnotized to report that she has found nothing suspicious.

  Mr. Farrel has a factory manager, Mr. McDermott, who becomes suspicious of the Master’s intentions. The Master murders Mr. McDermott in front of the hypnotized Mr. Farrel who expresses no sense of surprise. The Master is Mr. Farrel’s dark side eliminating Mr. McDermott who stands in the way of what Farrel thinks will be financial success. The plot thickens as Mr. Farrel Senior appears, having been alerted to funny business by Mr. McDermott before that unfortunate man’s demise. We see in Farrel Junior a man who wants desperately to show his father that he can run the family business with the same success as Dad. But he just doesn’t have good business sense or force of personality.

  He’s the archetypical character of tragedy with his fatal flaw. He has now committed murder. We saw the Master actually commit the murder, but with no opposition from Farrel, and we understand that the power of the evil Will is controlling the unfortunate Farrel. The Master confronts Mr. Farrel Senior with an attempt to hypnotize him, but that fails. The Master comments, “Your will is exceptionally strong. One might say dangerously strong.” Here we should understand the struggle for good and evil is between Mr. Farrel Senior and his Master. Farrel Senior wins the first round, but the Will is powerful. The Master puts a plastic doll in Farrel Senior’s car as he drives off to his home from the plastics factory. The doll is of course a Nestene who kills Farrel at his home.

  Back to the Carnival

  The Master leads the Doctor to the carnival to destroy him. Rossini captures the Doctor, Jo had followed the Doctor and rescues him, then Jo and the Doctor are captured by Autons (Nestene) disguised as (plastic) police. They are rescued in turn by the Brigadier, a character who serves the plot in a similar manner as Jo Grant, but with military authority to bring brute force to bear where finesse won’t work. The Master responds to the Doctor’s escape, “He’s an interesting adversary. I admire him in many ways.” No surprise at this statement of self admiration.

  The plot continues with a series of action scenes culminating at a radio tower where the Nestene can apparently come through the tower from outer space, if the Master just turns the correct knob in the tower control room. We see the Master in the control room when the Doctor appears just in time to tell the Master that the Nestene will kill the Master as well as all earthlings. Somehow the Master hadn’t considered that possibility before agreeing to help the Nestene. Apparently, being good in Cosmic Science leaves deficiencies elsewhere.

  The Doctor and the Master cooperate to close the channel and thwart the Nestene invasion. The cooperation of good and evil is a common theme in Doctor Who that aptly reflects instances in our own world. They express the Angst we all feel when we’re in positions of having to cooperate in a situation devoid of trust. They succeed in closing the channel (of course), and the Master escapes (of course). Mr. Farrel makes his final tragic appearance. No longer needed by the Master, his fate is sealed. He’s still under hypnosis, and disguised as the Master, tries to shoot the Doctor, but is killed instead by one of the Brigadier’s men. The Doctor reminds Jo that he has the Master’s demateri
alization circuit, so the Master is trapped on Earth. Jo observes that the Doctor doesn’t seem very worried. He replies that he’s looking forward to the next encounter. Of course that tells the audience that the Master will return for more adventure, but it also points to our fascination with evil and danger—with our own dark sides, with the Will.

  The Master appeared in several episodes in 1971 and returned for two episodes in 1972. One important appearance came in “The Sea Devils,” shown in February of 1972 with the same cast as the previous year. The Sea Devils are a life form that evolved on Earth, but chose to live under the sea. The Master is trying to help them take over the planet (what else?). Continuing with our analysis of the Doctor having an evil side that is the Master, we understand the Doctor to be a tormented character with a love-hate relationship with Earth. Happily for us and for the series, his good side keeps winning over his evil side. The victory of good over evil is an important escape for us in a world where evil seems so prevalent.

  The story opens with the Master apparently a prisoner of the British military in a castle on an island. The commander is Colonel Trenchard. We learn as the story unfolds that the Master controls the Colonel (through hypnosis) and has convinced him that he and the Master are working to stop enemy agents. Nearby ships are being sunk by prehistoric, intelligent life forms, the Sea Devils. A sea fort is in the middle of the area where the ships are going down. We can guess that it’s the Sea Devil hangout. Also nearby is a naval base under the control of Captain Hart. The scene thus set, we see the Doctor and Jo visiting the Master in prison. That’s just to let us know where all the characters are at the start and to introduce us to Colonel Trenchard. Here we find a man who advances in the British military because of his of good birth and quite beyond his inherent abilities. He’s keenly aware of his shortcomings and will do anything to appear to be a hero, a patriot. He’s a tragic figure and the Master is his evil side. We know from the start this man is doomed.

  Colonel Trenchard has seen the Sea Devils and now believes he’s helping the Master to thwart their invasion. The Master tells Trenchard, “All your troubles will soon be over.” We know that the Master has little more use for the Colonel and will dispose of him. The Doctor and Jo get back to Captain Hart and convince him that the Sea Devils are mobilizing to take over the Earth. The Master invents a device for communicating with the Sea Devils and calls them to the castle. Captain Hart sends in the troops and the action, already moving faster than the plot, speeds up. Colonel Trenchard tries to call the Ministry for help, but can’t get through. This frustration points out the little esteem in which his superiors hold him and he understands all too well what a failure he’s been. But here we see a poignant twist. Mr. Farrel from “Terror of the Autons” is simply killed in the end, a victim of his own desire to show his father that he could be successful in the family business. We feel no more than a modest sympathy for him. At the last minute, Colonel Trenchard understands he’s played the fool for his own vanity, his Master. He’s well-born and in true British fashion (what the British audience will expect), he turns hero, fighting and dying to defend the castle. The Doctor and Captain Hart find him just after he’s killed. The Doctor asks Hart, “What would you say was Trenchard’s strongest characteristic?” Hart replied, “Patriotism, I suppose.” “Precisely,” the Doctor observed, “the Master used that patriotism as a weapon.” The Master is the evil aspect in all of us. The Doctor can speak of the Master in Trenchard with as much familiarity as if it were his own evil Master. Indeed, we all see, as Brontë did, the Master in others and occasionally in ourselves. All Masters are aspects of one—the Will.

  The Doctor goes diving to the seafloor near the fort and is (of course) captured by the Sea Devils. They’re living in a building (the sea fort?) with rooms apparently filled with air, not water—fortunate for the Doctor and the Master who’s also present. “The Master is the personification of evil,” the Doctor warns the Sea Devils. The Sea Devils must also be subject to the Will, and the Doctor reasonably expects the Sea Devils to sense evil as he does. They’re presented to us, not as evil themselves, but as a threat to humans pressing a case for control of an Earth they once ruled. We might, as the Doctor has done, reasonably expect the Sea Devils to have their own Masters. Unfortunately the character of the Sea Devils is never explored. They march the Doctor off to await execution. He escapes and is recaptured. Several scenes later, the Sea Devils put the Master in the same cell as the Doctor. Once again, the Doctor and Master must cooperate to save each other and to save the Earth. They escape and the Sea Devil lair is destroyed. The Master feigns illness, hypnotizes someone and puts a Master mask on them to fool the Doctor (hasn’t he seen this trick before?), and escapes, ready to return and delight us again.

  Escape to Doctor Who

  Schopenhauer unfolds for us the World as Will and Representation. The world as we know it with spatial, temporal, and causal relationships is a product of our minds. We’re “hard wired” to experience the world in a certain way and we can never know what the world, the noumenon, really is. Whatever it is, it manifests itself through our perceptions and the concepts of our minds to create our representation of the world. Causality is particularly important. It’s the way we organize and understand the changes that we perceive in matter.

  Schopenhauer’s most brilliant piece of philosophy was understanding that we could get an inkling of the noumenon, the Will, through our inner self. This inner self gives us a sense of the Will, the blind force, the energy, that we understand in our phenomenal world causes change in matter. Schopenhauer saw the Will as evil, precisely because it was pointless. Events could unfold phenomenally in any number of ways. Most unfoldings wouldn’t be favorable for the subject of those unfoldings. The pointlessness of the universe was terrifying for Schopenhauer, and all share to some degree that terror in the vastness of the universe and the obvious insignificance of our position it in. We frequently feel helpless and at the mercy of the Will, but the Will has no mercy. Schopenhauer writes at length about temporary escape from our plight through art. He assumes an intelligent person who can immerse in art or music and detach from the world.

  For the masses, Schopenhauer saw little hope. But now we have television and Doctor Who. This is a trivial escape, not at all what Schopenhauer had in mind, but we do use it as an escape. We watch the forces of good and evil, as the Will imposes its cruelty on us, but in a trivial manner that amuses rather than oppresses. We see ourselves in the various characters and project ourselves into the stories. Schopenhauer’s philosophy can teach us much about ourselves, whether applied through the light-hearted approach with Doctor Who or the more serious study of Schopenhauer’s writings themselves. The god Apollo advises us through his oracle at Delphi, “Know thyself.” I suggest you use Schopenhauer as a guide to follow this ancient and most excellent advice. Remember Brontë!

  24

  Sympathy for the Master

  PAULA SMITHKA

  MASTER: Can’t you hear it? Listen—Listen—Listen—Listen! Every minute, every second, every beat of my hearts, there it is, calling to me. Please listen!

  DOCTOR: I can’t hear it.

  MASTER: Listen!

  DOCTOR: I heard it.... What’s inside your head?!

  —“The End of Time, Part 1” (2009)

  The Master is described as the “quintessential villain.”110 But is he, really? It’s clear the Master wants to lord over humans and even Time Lords. He demands to be recognized as the Master, not merely in name but as a sovereign—the one who holds the power of life and death over all of his subjects.

  In “The Sound of Drums” (2007) he, as Harold Saxon, gets elected Prime Minister of Great Britain, brings the Toclafane to help him establish his dominion over Earth, kills the US president, ages the Doctor, and unleashes destruction on the human race. His closing remarks to this episode are:And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all; a
nd I thought it good.

  In “The Last of the Time Lords” (2007), the TARDIS has been cannibalized and turned into a paradox machine and the aged Doctor, reduced in size, is kept in a bird cage. When the Master is “reconstituted” 111 in “The End of Time, Part 1,” we see a Master who gives no thought to those who effected his reconstitution. Lucy Saxon, the Master’s “Earth-girl” wife, begs him, “You’re killing them!” The Master’s response is, “Oh, let them die; they’re just the first.” His reconstituted body is “so very” hungry.112 He devours any food he can get his hands on, including whole human beings. No, there’s not much to like about the Master. We think him cruel, immoral, and evil. Yet, the Master may simply be a paradigmatic “world historical individual,” characterized by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in Reason in History.

  My Lord, Master ...

  Human beings are social creatures. We need other people to acknowledge our existence; we need to see ourselves through the eyes of others. Others are mirrors for us. Hegel argues that without others, we only have self-certainty; that is, we’re only aware of our own existence, desires, and our place in the world of things, but we lack the truth of certainty of self.113