Philosophy of Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood

This article contains major spoilers. 

Philosophy-

The philosophy of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood revolves around science, war, religion, nationalism/fascism and Truth. It is story about human connection, war, and about overcoming our weaknesses. 

Science Vs Religion 

When Edward and Alphonse visited Reole to investigate father Cornello who gained control over people of Reole, who believed that he had Godly powers. As the truth turns out to be that Cornello uses a Philosopher stone and alchemy to fool his followers (He was eventually exposed). Later, we see the city being engulfed in a civil war over different ideologies.

In the next episode, they met Shou Tucker who was known for his talking chimera experiment and to maintain his state alchemist position, he does something really horrific. He used his own daughter and dog for a chimera experiment. And then he gives the most disturbing excuse for his actions. He said he only did what science has demanded for. So many humans and animals have been sacrificed for the advancement of science. So, this isn’t something new for the world of science. And for the advancement of science, we should not hesitate to make few sacrifices.  

  So, science and religion both suck? 

Well, Blind faith creates monsters out of people (metaphorically) and so does science in FMA: B (literally). Elric brothers come across various situations where they witness the dark sides of Alchemy/science. One the most important one is when they came to know about the secret of philosopher’s stone. They were disgusted with the fact that these perfect stones are made from human sacrifices. Thus, they always avoided to use philosopher stone for anything (though they had to in some situations). Thousands of lives and conflicts among nations were used to make these stones. Unlike Elric brothers, Scar was introduced as a character who clings to his religious beliefs. For him the Amestrians were the villains and all Ishivalans were victims. And he continues to use his religious beliefs as an excuse for his vengeance 

SO...!!! Back to the question “Science and faith both suck”?

Well a big NO...!!! 

As the FMA: B shows, science and religion are ideas that should exist together in a prosperous society. When he met rose in Reole and says that humans are made quite cheap (you can literally get the materials with your pocket money) she repels the idea of creating humans by saying that it's not just a body, humans are made up of. Then, we witness a childbirth in Rush Valley where Edward acknowledged the limitations of alchemy as it can't create humans. And there are some things only nature can do. Being overly faithful to any of the idea can prohibit Liberty /free thinking. Neither blind following of science nor blind faith towards god is good. Whether it was through the riot of Reole, Tucker and his immoral approach towards science advancement, secret behind the philosopher's stone or scar justifying his vengeance with his tweaked religious beliefs FMA: B explores this idea of conflict. As the show progresses Edward acknowledges the fact that leaning towards either of these ideologies would bring no good results. He showed his interest towards eastern alkahestry (which uses earth’s life energy) and by coming together with these ideologies they were able to create a solution to the overall problem (a nationwide reverse transmutation circle). On the other hand, at the final moment Scar (who hated alchemists) uses alchemy to save the humanity. 

Cycle of hatred, Human emotions and meaningless vengeance, Nationalism and fascism 

Along with so many topics that this anime covers, revenge and anger is most highlighted one of them all. It's not difficult to notice how major events in the series tend to be based upon basic emotions of humans and most of the time it's hatred and revenge. 

The cycle of Hatred was one of main themes of Fullmetal Alchemist. Simple defined as if someone is hurt by something and chooses to hurt someone else for the same reason of hatred. The hatred will never end. 

Scar and Winry

Scar was introduced as a character who clings to his beliefs. And he is not open for new ideas that are contradictory to his ideals. For him the people of Ametris were the villains and all Ishivalens were victims. Thus, he treated all of them (People of Amestris) the same.

In the beginning of the series scar was seen as a character full of revenge for what happened to his community during war.

He carries a lot of hate towards alchemists and alchemy in general, as he believes it to be against the laws of God. He kept on killing without mercy even those alchemists who didn't had anything to do with the massacre. Scar was self-aware of his doings. He knew he has created a philosophy of his own which is contradictory to Law of God. Thus, he see himself as a disgrace on his community. Until He met Winry and gave her a chance to shoot him as he killed her parents, but winry didn't and how Edward saved winry made him realise and question his beliefs. He thought the cycle of revenge will end as he dies. 

Then, he meets Dr. Marcoh who was one of those who fuelled war against Ishivalens. Scar didn't killed him out of anger. Till this point he realised that pure hatred wouldn't get him anything and he has to change his ways for greater good. When Scar meets Winry again at the abandoned mining town, he gives her right to pass judgement on him. What winry decides not to give in to meaningless rage and there we see how the fine line between obvious human emotions and meaningless hatred has been shown. 

We are weak because we have to be and if we are not. Then we don't have any reasons to grow.

-Trisha

Kimblee’s Ideals 

When other soldiers like Mustang, Hawkeye and Hughes held themselves responsible for the lives they took as they say why military has to degrade to such an extent to kill innocent people. Kimblee says that they shouldn't be held responsible for things they did because they were ordered to. 

Immortality changes with war. Why you see yourself as a victim, when it was only you who chose this path. No doubt this character was a psychopath as how he enjoys scenery of bloodshed and agony. 

The killings and sufferings of the war are pleasurable to him. 

Morality and emotional notions doesn't exist for him, they are just distraction for him. He is an overly realist psychopath. Unlike any other nihilistic character his nihilistic appearance doesn't comes as losing interest in everything. He still finds pleasure in living at the edge of his life, and appreciates extremism.

Kimblee says that you were just doing your job, and thus you aren’t guilty of all the atrocities you have created. It easier for people to accept and say that it’s not their decision than to be consumed by guilt of being the part of something truly horrible. 

As we see every character who took part in the war suffered from a trauma even after the war. The reasoning didn’t cured the guilty they had. Character like Mustang saw war and formed his ideologies of protecting people and building a better future. Characters like Marcoh, who took part in heinous experiments during the war, which killed numerous people is now trying to protect the world from homunculi. Characters like Armstrong, Hawkeye, and Dr. Knox are all same. They all felt guilt for what they did in past. Whether it was following orders blindly for the sake of their job, not showing resistance or to run away from battle field. They all failed in doing something they were supposed to do. But guilt did came up with a certain sense of responsibilities to these characters. They all chose to lend a hand in saving the world risking their own lives. They took responsibility for their actions in the past and also took responsibility for a better future.

If hatred and fear is allowed to prevail the world will be swallowed by it.*

-Scar's brother.

Envy and Mustang-

One of the most defining trait Envy had was his hatred towards humans. He thinks that the emotions of pity, suffering and compassion is what makes humans vulnerable and thus less capable than that of a Homunculi. But Envy himself was made up of thousands of soul constricted together. Those souls have their pain and sufferings and they too are part of Envy, yet he tries to escape the fact with his shapeshifting ability. While Envy just had hatred, humans had much more than that. Emotions, pain, sufferings and compassion are our vulnerabilities and power at the same time. Afterall he was nothing more than accumulated pain.

When Mustang was about to kill Envy. I felt so good about him taking the revenge that he waited for. It was one of the most badass moments of the brotherhood series. But then the tone of the scene changes as other characters started to question Mustang's motivation for killing envy. As he was about to forget the greater purpose he wanted to work for. He wanted to work for peace. Now he cannot do that as he is about to fall for the same hatred that he resented. The same cycle of hatred that started it all. He chose to not to kill envy as he realised that the only way for end the cycle of hatred is to not be the part of it.

Wrath vs. Scar

Don't rely on god fate or people around you to deliver your desires.

- King Bradely.

Wrath didn't denied the basic belief of existence of god. Instead he thinks that if god has created us then he gave us power to act for ourselves and if god doesn't exist we are bound to act ourselves.

The fight between Wrath and Scar coincidently means so much like Scar was someone who moved away from wrath. Thought upon his ideals and sins. Questioned his way of doing things while King Bradely always bound with his duties. There is a sense of freedom in making your own choices. At last moments of his life Wrath took pride in his decision of choosing his wife, because that was the only decision of his life that he made for himself. 

Greed and Human Emotions 

We see Ling Yao and how desperate he was for achieving his goal of finding secret behind immortality for his clan. And there were events where we can clearly see his desperation. But they all are driven by good morals. He believes in strength of good relations and friendships. He is righteous. Then he meets Greed. 

When the character of greed was first introduced. It basically stands out from rest of the homunculi. He wanted materialistic things, had courage to question father's ideologies and more importantly he had allies. Thus, he valued friendly relations with other unlike other homunculi. Greed believed it to be the ultimate thing that would make up for the hollowness in his soul. 

But then we see his journey with Ling as an ally. And his character development shown through his sacrifice to save humans. Ironically Greed wouldn't ever sacrifice himself for humans. But he realised that no matter whatever you ask or get, the desires will not ever be fulfilled. He realised all he ever wanted was good friends to rely on. He realised what he has been searching for throughout his existence. Greed's sacrifice was the saddest part for me.

Everyone thinks greed is for money and power but everyone wants something that they don't have. 

-Greed 

What is “Truth”?

In the FMAB world building Truth has been shown as the mightiest power.  

Truth was the representation what we call the mightiest power of all maybe he is God, world, universe or all or one. In FMA:B world building truth is above all. 

As per the plot, when someone does a Human transmutation (which will eventually fail), they will be taken into gate of truth (an empty dimension) where they will meet a figure who takes something away from you for committing a sin human transmutation.

Another thing that is to be noticed is that sometimes truth appears with some features of its visitors like once we saw him wearing Edward's arm and leg and we saw a white dwarf when *dwarf in a flask* visits the gate of truth. This indicated that truth is nothing but the reflection of the person watching it.

 Every character questioned their beliefs and motivation, while father (main antagonist) clings to his blind faith towards alchemy and (literally becomes god for 1 episode I guess) 

But he can't go that far with his biased beliefs (don't ask me why) he denied to acknowledge the value of human emotions and literally casted away all the seven deadly sins (Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, Sloth pride and greed) it is just he couldn't see anything beyond alchemy and meets the actual god known as “The truth” what distinguished father from Elric brothers was the questioning against their wrong beliefs. Elric brothers tend to question the alchemy they believed in, while the father couldn't see anything beyond science. It makes the audience ponder upon why they couldn't transmutate their mother, it's because of law of equivalent exchange, which states that in order to obtain something, something of equal value has to be lost. 

Conclusion 

All is One, One is All 

Everything in this universe (no matter how small it is) is connected to everything else. Without insignificant small things big things can't be made. 

Imagine how would they have defeated father’s plan if May, Scar, Dr. Marcoh, and Alphonse didn’t worked together to decipher the notes of scar’s brother. They all ended up together just because their little actions of meaningful forgiveness over meaningless hatred. Father would have won if the souls within the Hohenheim’s body did not worked together. All humans are different and it’s their individual decisions can make a big impact on bigger levels. 

We don't become strong by eliminating our weaknesses and sins away instead we become strong by overcoming them. The father had something that amused him about humans. But was afraid to admit. He denies the possibility of any other value in his life. Possesed by his ideals, he casted away the parts of his that may helped him finding fulfilment at the end he remained the dwarf in a flask. Dwarf in a flask who just wants to prove him the best. He pushes away every human emotion he had in a believe that it would make him superior being. He strives to become god or an ultimate being

Father lost the freedom he desperately craved for. On the other hand the forces he was fighting against was more than just physical bodies. He did overlook the power of human connection another notable detail about truth was that it didn't had any eyes. This symbolises that truth is fair towards everyone.

Justice is blind.

Did you think that by detaching yourself from your seven desires, you would be able to surpass humans? You haven’t grown a bit.

-Truth

Do not supress anger or any other emotion, allow yourself to feel it. Do not lie or be shamed because it's the purest human nature. The unpredictability and ranging emotions are unique to humans.

Anger isn't always wrong and revenge isn't always a wrong motivation either. Envy isn't bad. Neither pride nor gluttony. The series do not support the fact that you should be driven by your anger instead it says the opposite. Use Anger to build yourself up.  Not to make anger something to lean on.

A lesson without pain is meaningless. That's because no one can gain without sacrificing something. But by enduring that pain and overcoming it, he shall obtain a powerful, unmatched heart. A Fullmetal heart.

-Edward Elric