Playing God (ethics)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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- For disambiguation, see Playing God
Playing God refers to someone supposedly taking on the role of God for human purposes. Alleged acts of playing God may include, for example, deciding who is to live or die, in a situation where not everyone can be saved. Usually the expression is used to invoke a precautionary principle or to suggest that someone should refrain from a controversial action.
Playing God in Media
In the anime and manga series Death Note, the main character Light Yagami plays God when he receives a supernatural notebook possessing the ability to kill people, thus believing that he could become a God and punish criminals for their sins.
In Doctor Who, particularly since the revival in 2005, the lead character, The Doctor is often compared to God, and plays God on many occasions, deciding who should live or die in almost every episode.
See also
- Abortion
- Anti-science
- Anti-intellectualism
- Antimodernism
- Bioethics
- Cloning
- Frankenstein
- Morality
- Mortality
- Naturalistic fallacy
- Political censorship
- Political scandal
- Transhumanism and Hubris (Playing God argument)
- Human Genetic Engineering
