Is the ‘Bad Guy’ Actually the Good Guy?

Dear Classical Wisdom Member,

The 1995 action thriller Heat is one of my all-time favorite movies.

It’s not just because it features heavy hitters De Niro and Pacino literally facing off as the iconic cop and robber...

Nor is it because Val Kilmer, still very much in his heyday, was hard to look away from (though his elbow, admittedly, was a little distracting)...

And it wasn’t even Natalie Portman’s stellar performance, channeling the same teenage angst I no doubt felt when I first watched it.

No, what captivated me most was the question at the heart of the film: what makes someone moral?

You see, the classic dichotomy of good and bad is blurred, complicated...revealing a more nuanced truth.

The robber is “bad” in the eyes of society, yet good to his friends and family.

Meanwhile, the “good” cop’s personal life is a mess.

To me, at that moment, Heat so perfectly demonstrated a real truth: often those who appear moral, are not... and those who don’t, are.

Indeed, it’s so common, it’s cliché.

The preacher who refuses to open the doors to his megachurch during a natural disaster and the cheesy mattress salesman who does... The politician who “fights for the people” but screams at her staff, while the corporate executive quietly donates to righteous causes... Or the celebrated philanthropists who throw lavish charity galas or elaborate festivals that are more performance than principle, versus local gangs or mafiosos who provide food and resources to the poor in their community...

Clearly, morality isn’t so cut and dry... and, of course, this was true in the ancient world too.

Julius Caesar knew the names of his foot soldiers as they crossed the Rubicon and upended the Republic. Meanwhile, Cato the Younger, the self-proclaimed moral pillar and famed Stoic who decried Caesar’s corruption, ran his household like a general and divorced his wife to lend her to a friend for political convenience, only to take her back later.

And then there was Alcibiades, the brilliant yet scandalous Athenian. A student of Socrates, he was a champion of democracy one day, traitor to it the next, whose charisma cloaked a pattern of ambition and betrayal. His life, too, blurs the lines between moral ideal and moral failure.

Meanwhile in Rome, Spartacus was a criminal, an escaped gladiator, and the leader of a massive slave revolt that threatened public order and the Roman economy. He was painted as a menace to society: violent, destabilizing, dangerous to the state...but within his own ranks, he was famously loyal, generous, and protective.

It makes one wonder: what truly makes someone moral?

And perhaps more importantly, where does morality come from? And can it be cultivated?

These are the questions the ancients asked often -in philosophy, politics, and literature- and they remain just as vital today. Fortunately, we have the reflections of those who came before us: a rich reservoir of wisdom from Aristotle and Epicurus to the Stoics and early Christians. Pursuing these ancient answers can help clarify how we should live in our here and now...

And as such, we have a full Classical Wisdom Litterae issue dedicated solely to these questions, to the field of Ethics.

Indeed, it may be our most important issue ever.

As a Classical Wisdom Member, you can access the full issue here:

Let me know which philosopher you agree with in the comments below… Did one perspective stick out or can we better understand morality through the lens of many?

All the best,

Anya Leonard
Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

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