The Dark Knight: The Philosophy of the Joker

Sensible living (according to the Joker)

The natural condition of mankind, or 'state of nature', is a concept that imagines the hypothetical conditions of how people behaved before societies came into existence. 

According to Thomas Hobbes, the natural state of mankind - without society or social rules - is “warre... of every man against every man” (Hobbes Leviathan: Chapter 13). This view is shared by the Joker. 

The Joker (2008) suggests that if you take away social convention and place individuals into a more natural situation in which they must decide between themselves or the greater moral good, individuals will abandon all social rules and kill each other (he later attempts to prove this point with a social experiment involving boats). He states that people's “morals, their code, is a bad joke, (and would be) dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be... When the chips are down, these 'civilised' people, they'll eat each other” (Joker 2008).

Hobbes' answer to this natural state of “warre” is the “social contract”. Social Contract theory states that individuals tacitly consent to the reality of an authority, for example a State, that's function is to maintain order among warring individuals.

The counter-argument to this theory is that in a state of nature individuals are uncorrupted by society and the state and are naturally more free to associate themselves with others and co-operate rather than kill each other. This is the premise of philosophies such as anarchism. Anarchism's response to its alternative premise on the state of nature is the opposing conclusion of removing the state and social order and reverting back to a state of nature.

Although Joker (2008) shares the same premise as social contract theory, he flips the conclusion of social contract theory on its head and in fact advocates an extreme individualistic form of anarchism, verging on moral nihilism, living without any social associations or rules – “The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules” (Joker 2008). This is not pure nihilism however as the Joker does seem to possess a moral or principle, the principle of living sensibly. It could be inferred that living sensibly would, to the Joker, translate to living as your natural, truthful self; your absolutely selfish, malevolent self as opposed to your unnatural, unreal, social self. In this sense, living according to one's own nature would be the moral ideal of the Joker's.

The Joker (2008) also implies, from a practical viewpoint, that living without society actually protects you better than the social contract. Knowing the truth about humanity's natural state makes you better prepared for when people turn against you - “They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out like a leper” (Joker 2008).

Joker's philosophy is not simply an attack on social or moral rules but also on society's and social group's plans. As Joker (2008) explains:

“The mob has plans, the cops have plans, Gordon's got plans. You know. They're schemers, schemers trying to control their little worlds. I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are” (Joker 2008).

The Joker (2008) points out the hypocrisy of society's plans – “Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I tell the press that.. a truck load of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all part of the plan, but when I say that one little old mayor will die, then everyone loses their minds”. Even though in the first instance, more innocent people will die, because it is part of the social plan, nobody panics. In other words, social schemes and conventions are simply fabrications, socially and psychologically constructed structures that have no real existence, in the same way that moral rules have no real natural existence.

So in a world without rules or plans, how does one live? According to Joker, one lives simply by doing - “I just do things”, in other words, one lives naturally and spontaneously. This is similar to the concept put forward by the existentialist Martin Heidegger, "dasein", but where dasein refers to being in the moment, the Joker conceives of doing in the moment. Joker's concept of 'doing' is perhaps evocative of the ancient Taoist values of naturalness, simplicity and spontaneity and the concept of wu wei -  of “effortless action” or “action without intent” - acting in an uncontrived, unplanned, wholly natural way.

Living sensibly then, according to the Joker, is living naturally, selfishly and spontaneously, without any moral rules or restrictions, without any social or personal control or convention.