Introduction--OK, you're watching GitS, reveling in Kusanagi's incredible battle with the tank, engrossed in the action. Then the fighting stops, but unlike other films you've seen, this isn't the end; the hero doesn't stalk off into acclaim and happiness, the sun setting happily nearby. Instead, you're now faced with the central dilemma of the tale, 10-15 minutes of well-wrought but highly philosophical storyline, and then it ends, with Kusanagi in a little girl's body, talking about the vast and infinite Net.
Huh? A good, nay, great film, but what does it all mean?
In a nutshell, I'd say the "philosophy" of Ghost in the Shell consists of two things: what it means to be human (explored throughout) and what "life" is, including what it means to evolve. This latter bit is explored quite deeply in
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the manga, in which pages are devoted to the Puppetmaster's description of his (its?) theory of evolution and change as it pertains to living things. This is also explored in the anime, but the more dominant philosophy in the film has more to do with Kusanagi's search for the meaning of humanity, and her attempts to figure out whether or not she herself is truly human.
Of course, it all runs far deeper than this; these are waters explored throughout the history of philosophy, depths for which everyone has a road map made up of guesses and intuition. Shirow takes on issues ranging from the concept of "soul" (or ghost or ?), the concepts of right and wrong, and consciousness to issues of genetic engineering, cloning, and the fusion of science and religion.
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What is human?
So, what does it mean to be human? Technically, scientifically, in the world of GitS having "a few human brain cells" may be enough. But, as Motoko observes, what happens when you take the machine away? Are you left with a human being?
Motoko is especially concerned with her humanity in the anime; in fact, whole sections are devoted to her reflections on this matter. She walks the city searching for answers, eerily seeing other "her"s, others with the same cybernetic features as herself. What does it mean when you are only one of many with the exact same body, the same face? As she says to Batou at another point, she has her own thoughts, her own unique memories which she interprets in her own way. Are these enough to make her human, or a unique individual?
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Motoko also knows she has a "ghost," a soul, which seems to be another way of separating humanity from artificial life (and which, of course, is used today in some religions to distinguish between humans and animals). But then Section 9 is confronted by a completely artificial body which shows "every indication" of having its own ghost. That the ghost turns out to be the Puppetmaster, trapped within the body, does not matter. Batou (and Kusanagi) postulate that it wouldn't be impossible for an artificial organism to "generate its own ghost." What, then, would "being human" really mean?
Batou counters that being treated like a human being is part of what defines one's humanity, but is that enough? If you treat a computer like a human being, does that make it human?
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There is, of course, no definitive answer, either in the film or in reality (whatever that is!). But, as we move into an age of increased roboticization, and of course into increased genetic manipulation and cloning, it is a question that must be asked.
What is life?
Masamune Shirow uses GitS to put forth a good deal of philosophy, especially about two subjects--what "human" is and what life is. Not exactly two small philosophical concepts, hmmm? The former is discussed in the previous section; the latter, here.
Shirow's conception of "life" is primarily put forth by the Puppetmaster as he (it?) is trying to convince Kusanagi to merge with him. To the Puppetmaster, life is a vast network--which makes sense, especially given that the Puppetmaster exists in the Net, needing no body. As he explains to Kusanagi, life is like the fruit growing on a
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vast tree, at the ends of its branches. He finds similar ideas (and we do as well) in the various religions of Earth: Yggdrasil, the world tree of the Norse, the tree in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life, etc. He calls it "the core system of the universe," with the branches "continually touching, separating, entangling, and bearing fruit."
Yet despite the chaos this would appear to encourage, the Puppetmaster believes that the system is continually looking for stability in addition to complexity and diversity. Interestingly, and paradoxically, life tries to achieve stability, to guard against the unknown and catastrophe, through diversifying its form, even within a single species. This is why the Puppetmaster so desperately wishes to "merge" with Motoko Kusanagi: He feels that his own system does not contain diversity, and therefore he is "stunted" as a life form--and perhaps does not even qualify as wholly "alive."
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