Who is the Most Moral TNG Character?

[Farscape One]

The franchise has among the most honorable, courageous, ethical, and moral stories, ideas, and questions in scifi. The characters, in particular, show a wide range of morality and ethics that make us think, and challenge us to not only be a better version of ourselves, but the best humans we can possibly become.

When I was growing up, STAR TREK was a huge part of my life. As an adult, so much of it has stayed with me. I am a huge scifi fan, and I have always felt that if I ever had children, STAR TREK is what I'd show them to help mold them into strong moral and ethical adults.

I thought of this subject while having a conversation with my wife about some of my favorite characters, so now I ask all of you.

Who do you think is the most moral, ethical person on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION?

 

[Kilana2]

Easy for me. Als long as both characters aren't influenced by aliens via mind-controlling/telepathy/remote controls/possessions, that is.

1. Captain Picard himself. He is a close follower of the Prime Directive und cherishes different life forms.
2. Data, for obvious reasons. He has ethic subroutines.

 

[Mojochi]

In truth, to determine this, you'd have to dissect the most minute discrepancies, since the general point of TNG's very design is for all of them to be the most moral people they could possibly make them. It's almost unprecedented for any of them to be on the wrong side of ethics. So what you end up weighing is minutia. For example...

Dr. Crusher is moral, so wrapped up in the ethical thing, in fact, that it blinds her enough that she's done things I question, like in some cases she puts her drive to heal the sick/wounded above the safety of her crew, (I Borg, & The High Ground) It's a very fine distinction, one not everybody I discuss it with agrees upon

Riker is moral, but is not someone who I think is the most moral of them. He's rather elitist, with people like Sam Lavelle or Reg Barkley, & somewhat short on giving outsiders or lower ranks any kind of graciousness. It was no surprise to me that his actions could've been construed as suspect in the murder of Apgar. Surely he wouldn't do that, but his manner leaves doubt in some people's minds, namely the wife & assistant. Oh, & at the risk of opening that can of worms yet again... he's just reprehensible with Jellico lol

Geordi can be rather graceless with people too, like Scotty, or a few other scientist/engineer types he butts heads with. Worf's morality doesn't really align with our own. Troi's? That's a really fine point with me, because I think that she's eavesdropping on people's emotions is a bit inappropriate, not that she can help that, but she CAN help how she handles it, & sometimes she doesn't do so well with that. The more I watch that Tom Riker episode, the more I feel her & Will just drag that poor guy through the ringer, without ever once really empathizing with him... ironically

Even the ultra moral renaissance man, Captain Picard, who by all rights should be the winner in this debate, is reclusive to an unhealthy degree, & shuts out those closest to him. I've had a similar thread to this some time ago, & the conclusion we came to was that by default Data is easily the most moral. He's the only one who is always examining himself such that he doesn't succumb to even the slightest of those things I mention above. It's in his nature to always be questioning what the right thing to do it is.

Some people even think it's unfair to compare him to the others, as he was programmed to do so, but I don't agree. I mean if the guy can literally give the human Q a fair shake, when no one else would, that really says something imho. He would risk his life for Q. Is it any wonder that someone would eventually write him to make the ultimate sacrifice?

 

[Terok Nor]

Picard, Data, Beverly and Troi were very moral. I suppose Worf was moralistic for a Klingon. Riker had that Pegasus incident and Geordi was kind of a creep.

 

[Night Shade]

I would say Worf. As Mojochi said, Worf's morality isn't like ours, but he was always loyal to the Klingon code of honor, and tried to ensure that his son Alexander acted the same.

 

[Sareesataka]

I voted Data. He usually does the right thing. As Mojochi stated, Data risked his life to save the human Q. Some say it's programming, but Data has shown he is capable of evolving beyond his programming. For instance, in the episode Lal, if Data were merely about his programming, he would have handed Lal over to Starfleet without any protest.

Off the top of my head, the only episode I can think of which casts doubt on Data's morality was The Most Toys where his actions during transport were suspect.

 

[Mojochi]

Off the top of my head, the only episode I can think of which casts doubt on Data's morality was The Most Toys where his actions during transport were suspect.

And even that's debatable, because under the circumstances, some would be of the opinion that what Data did was the best moral option

 

[Farscape One]

The closest example of questionable I can think of was in "The Quality of Life" when he prevented Picard and Geordi from beaming up because they were going to sacrifice an exo-comp. He did do it to prevent an intelligent machine from getting killed, and it did work out in the end, but I can see how some might view possibly getting your best friend and your captain killed to prevent an unproven, to everyone else at that moment in time, machine intelligence from being sacrificed as a dubious action.

Picard, to his credit, did let him know that it was the most human decision he ever made. I am curious as to what LaForge said to Data after that incident, since we never got to see that conversation. (I do love that Picard's line was the last in that episode, but I really would have loved even a 30 second quick talk between those two.)

 

[Riker'sMailbox]

I went back and forth between Data and Pulaski, before choosing Pulaski. We only saw her one season and I was not a fan, but she was all moral and ethics.

It is an interesting question. I wanted to say Picard, but I don't think he is the most moral or ethical.

 

[Mojochi]

I went back and forth between Data and Pulaski, before choosing Pulaski. We only saw her one season and I was not a fan, but she was all moral and ethics.

It is an interesting question. I wanted to say Picard, but I don't think he is the most moral or ethical.

I've actually thought the same thing about Yar. It's an unfair comparison IMHO. They're just not around long enough to have been put in as many questionable situations like the others. Surely the more drama they're exposed to, the less likely they'll be, to come out as shiny as those we never see in those dilemmas

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Chief O'Brien. I'd trust my molecules to that man any day...

 

[Kor]

Probably Picard. Maybe a little too much so, sometimes.

Kor

 

[Riker'sMailbox]

Chief O'Brien. I'd trust my molecules to that man any day...

Good one.

 

[Uhura's Song]

I voted Picard. Could easily see a vote for Crusher, Troi, Pulaski, Guinan, Tasha, or even Worf.

For me, morals & ethics are the choices one makes. Data, to a large extent, has no morals because he has no choice. His actions are just/moral because of his programming, but since it is not his choice, he scores no points on morals for me.

 

[Mojochi]

Data, to a large extent, has no morals because he has no choice. His actions are just/moral because of his programming, but since it is not his choice, he scores no points on morals for me.

The entire episode The Most Toys would seem to dispel that notion. He has a choice to tell Julianna about being an android, or not. He has a choice to deactivate & dismantle Lore or not. Some still argue he made the less moral choice on that one (Not me). Even we can't come to a consensus on whether he did the most moral thing in these instances. So clearly he has free will enough to be acting freely in ethical dilemmas imho

 

[Uhura's Song]

The entire episode The Most Toys would seem to dispel that notion. He has a choice to tell Julianna about being an android, or not. He has a choice to deactivate & dismantle Lore or not. Some still argue he made the less moral choice on that one (Not me). Even we can't come to a consensus on whether he did the most moral thing in these instances. So clearly he has free will enough to be acting freely in ethical dilemmas imho

Good response. Though I am not sure that is always the case. Or is it so just in cases where his subroutines do not provide a clear answer?

Thus, Data would, at best, have had a choice sometimes. And chosen to act morally sometimes. For me, still a step behind the others.

 

[Farscape One]

How is it any different from a human? We make our decisions based on our knowledge and memories, or put another way, our programming. We are programmed with knowledge from an early age onward, and learn new stuff daily. Just like Data.

Look at him and Lore. They both have pretty much identical abilities, but they turned out to be completely different people. Lore CHOSE to betray the colonists to the Crystalline Entity. I highly doubt Lore was programmed to betray and be evil. He chose that path. Data chose to be a good person. More than that... he really is a hero, in every sense of the word.

 

[Mojochi]

Good response. Though I am not sure that is always the case. Or is it so just in cases where his subroutines do not provide a clear answer?

Thus, Data would, at best, have had a choice sometimes. And chosen to act morally sometimes. For me, still a step behind the others.

You're kind of looking at it from the wrong perspective though. We all live by routines that instruct our morality, & just like Data, sometimes they aren't adequate to lead us & we must take on ethical dilemmas independently. The way to look at it imho is that since Data was endowed in some manner with morality, just as any of us might have been, but that is not always sufficient, then Data has free will to act the same as we do, or when he came upon these instances of having no programmed response, he'd have just glitched, shut down, or failed to operate/negotiate them in some way, but we see him tackle them in the same ways we do, weighing options/outcomes/influences/examples etc...

The very fact that he does that in any way whatsoever is all he needs to do imho to be a realized individual whose more than just a series of programmed responses, just like Picard states about his music

And is there nothing of Data in what I'm hearing? You chose the violinists. Heifetz and Bron-Ken had radically different styles, but you combined them, successfully.

The real man that Data is, must be read between the lines... of computer code. He starts with what's programmed but improvises his own agenda, just as any of us

 

[matthunter]

Barclay. Face your fears and save the goddamn day.

If it had been any other member of the E-D crew encountering oddities in the transporter beam, they'd have shrugged it off with their enlightened 23rd Century stoicism and been just as dead as the crew of the Yosemite. But Barclay saved four of that crew, who otherwise would have been lost.

A frightened man who rises above his fear beats a "fearless" hero any day. The latter is a trope, the former is ALL OF US, if we try.

 

[Discofan]

I don't think Picard is moral. He hides behind the prime directive to let people die. To me that's not moral, it's equivalent to the Germans who during World War II hid behind the "I was just doing my job" excuse to commit the worst atrocities.

Data is not moral either. morality implies a choice, Data has no choice but to follow his routines. In fact we can see that when these routines are disabled he can become the most abjectly evil creature you could imagine.