The document discusses how philosophies by Plato, Machiavelli, and Hobbes relate to key situations and decisions made by characters in the TV show The Walking Dead. Some examples provided include the show presenting Plato's ideas of an "ideal state" without gender roles and private property. Machiavelli's view of putting the state's interests above all else is seen in the Governor's ruthless actions. Hobbes' social contract theory is reflected in the community of Alexandria requiring the surrender of weapons. Overall, the document analyzes how historic philosophical concepts on government, leadership and survival are demonstrated through the choices characters make in surviving the zombie apocalypse.

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Running head: The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead: Observed through the Philosophies of Plato, Machiavelli, and Hobbes
Mario Fernando Miralles II
INR 4013- Development of IR Thought
Professor Marcie Washington

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Abstract
The actions by characters from the hit TV show The Walking Dead were analyzed as a critical
model for historic philosophies and concepts. Theories such as ‘the ideal state’, democracy,
‘reason of the state’, strong leader mentality, and social contract theory were presented by Plato,
Machiavelli, and Hobbes. The aim of this paper is to find key situations in the show that clearly
present these principles famously set forth by these philosophers.

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The Walking Dead: Observed through the Philosophies of Plato, Machiavelli, and Hobbes
The Walking Dead (2010) is a popular American TV series that tells the story of a post-
apocalyptic zombie world through the eyes of various key characters. In it, we observe a few of
the surprising decisions that these characters choose or are often times forced to make in order to
survive. Many historical philosophers such as Plato, Machiavelli, and Hobbes have set forth
theories which serve to critically analyze the kind of decisions that humans make. These would
be in terms of government, leadership, and survival which can be correlated with some of the
same decisions that occur throughout the show.
This paper will discuss how the philosophical theories of Plato, Machiavelli, and Hobbes
apply directly to The Walking Dead. Some of the key concepts will center on themes such as ‘the
ideal state’, democracy, ‘reason of the state’, strong leader mentality, and social contract theory.
It will attempt to demonstrate how elements of these historic ideas are prevalent and could be
observed quite clearly throughout the show. The paper is structured into three parts fixated on the
philosophers mentioned with sub-parts that concentrate on their principles. It will provide a
summarized overview of their notable ideas and then tie them to events from the show.
Plato
The Ideal State
Plato (380 BC?) contemplated at length over the notion of the perfect society in his
writing of the Republic. How could we build a perfect society and is this even a feasible task?
Plato was an idealist who preached over the detachment of possessions. These possessions would
include things such as private property, gender roles and even family in the hopes of
transcending what he referred to as ‘human selfishness’. In turn, this would lead to a model of

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state unity or a cohesive state of people that would have no need to argue or fight among each
other.
In The Walking Dead, we observed many moments concerning the transcendence of
human selfishness. A great example is the void of gender roles throughout the show. Men and
women shared duties equally and devoid of gender bias. Women had to learn to shoot guns,
forage in dangerous zones and be just as ruthless as the men in order to survive. Some women
even exceeded in what would typically be viewed as male oriented traits such as Michonne’s
superior prowess with her signature katana or Andrea’s incredibly precise sharpshooting skills
and this was unquestioned and accepted within the group.
Democracy
Plato was also regarded as the first utopian thinker and he desperately wanted to reform
society. Plato was not very fond of democracy. He insinuated that voters were unintelligent; they
do not make very informed decisions which could inevitably lead us to championing very
substandard rulers. He wished to prevent people from voting until they essentially started to
think rationally. If they chose to forego this proposition, then they will be left with a system of
government which establishes mob rule in where the many outnumber the few which in Plato’s
eyes was a dangerous notion.
His assumptions correlate well with Rick’s decision in Season 2 to declare himself the
leader of his group with complete disregard of the group’s opinion. He decried the current form
of democratic decision-making that was originally formed from the beginning. Rick believed that
considering everyone’s opinion was an endangerment to the safety of the group as a whole. He
felt that a dictatorship would expedite the decision-making process. In a post-apocalyptic world,
quick decisions could mean the difference between life and death.

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Niccolo Machiavelli
Reason of the State
Another philosopher who relates well to The Walking Dead is Niccolo Machiavelli
(1532). He wrote in The Prince that almost any action of a ruler is justifiable if it contributes to
the peace, prosperity, and stability of the state. Essentially, Machiavelli endorses sinful deeds
such as murder, deceit, violence and cruelty as long as they are aimed towards the greater good
of the society. In other words, so long as the ends justify the means. He referred to this as the
‘reason of the state’ in which the focus of the state’s power is the most important aspect of
society and that all of our attention should be directed towards the study of statecraft.
A way in which this theory applies is in the ruthless actions of “The Governor”. The
Governor created a thriving city named Woodbury in which there is relative peace, security, and
order from the chaotic outside world. However nice, charismatic, and welcoming he seemed was
later identified as a deceitful front to the true nature of his ways. He would scout the outskirts of
his city’s borders and would often find encampments of humans banded together to survive. He
would then extract information and resources by killing off the weaker encampments in order to
bring those resources back to his city for the benefit of his people.
Strong Leader Mentality
This leads us into Machiavelli’s principles of a strong leader. Machiavelli argued in favor
of a leader with strong virtues, especially one with the attribute of prudence. In his mind, war is a
part of human nature and in order to be effective in war a leader must have qualities of ambition
and spiritedness for the sake of protecting his or her people. There are two clear instances in
where this ideology is present in the show. The first is in Shane’s leadership as opposed to
Rick’s.

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Shane’s leadership was devoid of emotional attachment to a group member’s specific
situation and this formed the core of the struggle in Season 2 between staying to find a group
member that had gone missing or carrying on without her. Of course Shane’s utilitarian point of
view urged Rick and the group to abandon the search and focus on protecting the home base
which was problematic for Rick and his opposing viewpoint. Another case was observed in
Officer Dawn’s strict leadership at Grady Memorial Hospital in Season 5. According to Sarabeth
Pollock (2014), Dawn maintained a controlled system with major elements of fear while
occasionally rewarding its inhabitants in order to quell the need for an uprising. These were
identifiable Machiavellian tactics that, he would argue, ought to be used by strong leaders.
Thomas Hobbes
Social Contract Theory
According to Hobbes (1651), there has never been any evidence that people could live
together without a leader to bind them down. He regarded that we would all kill each other in the
absence of an invincible ruler. Order was critical to Hobbes who believed that it was man-made
and good while chaos was natural and evil. This means that he criticizes life as being anarchic in
its nature and in need of a sovereign entity like the state. One of his most famous works,
Leviathan, explains social contract theory which claimed that individuals ought to give control to
superior or supreme collective power to monitor and establish order.
The best example of this was found in Season 5 with the appearance of the city of
Alexandria. This new city that Rick and his group stumble upon has a set of laws that request the
confiscation by its leader, Deanna, of the group’s weapons within the city; a most uncomforting
demand as the group had to suspiciously relinquish some of its individual security for the greater
good of the community. Deanna also thought it a good idea to make Rick and Michonne

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constables of the city to further erect order within the city walls. Her leadership came into
question multiple times as Rick observed that the community had a weak structure in terms of
border security and civil control. Rick was later proven right and was given a larger leadership
role at the end of the season when “walkers” penetrated the walls and certain citizens became
unstable. This ties in further to Hobbes theory that if the leader could not upkeep the common
will of its citizens then the citizens have a right to change its leadership.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper discussed how philosophical theories apply to the show The
Walking Dead. It compared various plots of the story to the ideas of Plato, Machiavelli, and
Hobbes. It focused on certain key concepts that have been demonstrated through the character’s
actions with themes such as ‘the ideal state’, democracy, ‘reason of the state’, strong leader
mentality, and social contract theory. Overall, elements of these historic ideas are prevalent and
could be observed quite clearly throughout the show. Each character’s action serves as a
reflection of the state of mind in which they view the world around them which in turn could
lead to cause and effect scenarios that shape the outcome of their lives.

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References
Hobbes, Thomas (1651). Leviathan. England.
Machiavelli, Niccolo (1532). The Prince. Italy: Antonio Blado d'Asola.
Darabont, Frank, et. al (Producers). (2010). The Walking Dead [Television series]. New York,
USA: AMC Networks Inc.
Plato (380 BC?). Republic. Greece.
Pollock, Sarabeth (2014, December 2). The Walking Dead’s Dawn and Machiavelli’s The
Prince. Retrieved from https://sarabethpollock.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/the-walking-
deads-dawn-and-machiavellis-prince/