The End of Evangelion Is Just the Categorical Imperative, But Worse
(Evangelion Week, Day 3)
In The End of Evangelion, everyone merges into one consciousness. No more conflict. No more miscommunication. No more painful desire to be seen, loved, or known.
Just a pure, universal, shared condition of… something.
It’s supposed to fix us.
But let’s be honest: it’s terrifying.
It’s also weirdly Kantian.
From Universal Law to Universal Soup
The Categorical Imperative says:
Instrumentality skips the self-legislation part and goes straight to imposition. It’s not universal law—it’s universal override. There’s no space for dissent, difference, or hesitation. Everyone becomes part of the same consciousness, whether they like it or not.
And maybe that’s why it feels like the Categorical Imperative—but worse.
In The End of Evangelion, everyone merges into one consciousness. No more conflict. No more miscommunication. No more painful desire to be seen, loved, or known.
Just a pure, universal, shared condition of… something.
It’s supposed to fix us.
But let’s be honest: it’s terrifying.
It’s also weirdly Kantian.
Autonomy for Everyone (Whether You Like It or Not)
Kant’s moral theory is grounded in autonomy—the idea that to be free is to will the moral law for yourself, using reason. When you act morally, you don’t just do the right thing—you recognize it as necessary and legislate it as a law for all rational beings.
In other words: morality is universal. If it’s good for you, it has to be good for everyone. And if you can't will it as a universal law? You shouldn’t do it.
Instrumentality is kind of like that.
Except no one opts in.
No one consents.
No one affirms the maxim of “merge all humans into one psychic sea.”
It just happens.
Kant’s moral theory is grounded in autonomy—the idea that to be free is to will the moral law for yourself, using reason. When you act morally, you don’t just do the right thing—you recognize it as necessary and legislate it as a law for all rational beings.
In other words: morality is universal. If it’s good for you, it has to be good for everyone. And if you can't will it as a universal law? You shouldn’t do it.
Instrumentality is kind of like that.
Except no one opts in.
No one consents.
No one affirms the maxim of “merge all humans into one psychic sea.”
It just happens.
From Universal Law to Universal Soup
The Categorical Imperative says:
“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”SEELE says:
“Let’s collapse the AT Fields of every human on Earth and reduce them into a formless collective existence.”Spot the difference.
Instrumentality skips the self-legislation part and goes straight to imposition. It’s not universal law—it’s universal override. There’s no space for dissent, difference, or hesitation. Everyone becomes part of the same consciousness, whether they like it or not.
And maybe that’s why it feels like the Categorical Imperative—but worse.
Post-Consent Ethics
Kant wants a world of moral agents.
Evangelion shows us what happens when you remove the friction of individuality and pretend it’s peace.
Sure, Shinji undoes Instrumentality in the end. He chooses to suffer again—to separate again. And that choice matters. Because autonomy isn’t about being right. It’s about being someone who chooses.
The Categorical Imperative doesn’t demand perfection.
But it does demand you show up as a self.
Instrumentality erases the self in the name of unity.
Which kind of defeats the point of being free.
Suggested Readings for When Your AT Field Starts to Crack
[1] Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
Where the Categorical Imperative lives. All about autonomy, dignity, and the moral law—until someone turns it into a collective consciousness meltdown.
[2] Onora O’Neill, Constructing Authorities: Reason, Politics, and Interpretation in Kant’s Philosophy
For when you want to ask, “What happens when we try to enforce universal reason... badly?”
[3] Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace
A different kind of moral universality—soft, mystical, and haunting. Think Instrumentality but quiet and religious instead of sci-fi fascist.
[4] Isaiah Berlin, The Crooked Timber of Humanity
Because merging all humans into one smooth tree trunk ignores the knots and grain that make us human in the first place.
[5] Thomas Nagel, The View from Nowhere
A philosophical vibe check on the impulse to transcend individuality—and the consequences of trying.
Kant wants a world of moral agents.
Evangelion shows us what happens when you remove the friction of individuality and pretend it’s peace.
Sure, Shinji undoes Instrumentality in the end. He chooses to suffer again—to separate again. And that choice matters. Because autonomy isn’t about being right. It’s about being someone who chooses.
The Categorical Imperative doesn’t demand perfection.
But it does demand you show up as a self.
Instrumentality erases the self in the name of unity.
Which kind of defeats the point of being free.
Suggested Readings for When Your AT Field Starts to Crack
[1] Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
Where the Categorical Imperative lives. All about autonomy, dignity, and the moral law—until someone turns it into a collective consciousness meltdown.
[2] Onora O’Neill, Constructing Authorities: Reason, Politics, and Interpretation in Kant’s Philosophy
For when you want to ask, “What happens when we try to enforce universal reason... badly?”
[3] Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace
A different kind of moral universality—soft, mystical, and haunting. Think Instrumentality but quiet and religious instead of sci-fi fascist.
[4] Isaiah Berlin, The Crooked Timber of Humanity
Because merging all humans into one smooth tree trunk ignores the knots and grain that make us human in the first place.
[5] Thomas Nagel, The View from Nowhere
A philosophical vibe check on the impulse to transcend individuality—and the consequences of trying.
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