I want to live!
- EvilKirkās last words
Whatever else you want to say about EvilKirk, itās pretty clear that he didnāt want to be merged back into the single Kirk. Despite this, there is no shortage of reasons why it was a good idea to merge the Kirks: the Enterprise needed its CO back, GoodKirk wanted to do it, and it seems possible that the strain of remaining split would have eventually killed EvilKirk anyways. However, the fact remains that EvilKirk did not consent to the procedure which ended his existence.
Clearly the circumstances here are quite different and thereās basically no argument to be made that allowing EvilKirk to continue to exist would benefit any involved party, EvilKirk included. But for the purposes of this comparison, the only fact that really matters is that EvilKirk was just as passionate about his desire to continue existing as Tuvix was.
Yetāand itās obvious where Iām going with thisāāSpock murdered EvilKirkā is not a meme.
So what gives? Did Spock murder EvilKirk or not? If yes, why does he get a pass while Janeway is condemned?
Isnāt the main difference that neither could survive if they remained separated? They would both eventually die unless they were reintegrated.
Whereas in Tuvixās case, the merged being was in no danger of death and could have lived a long healthy life.
That is true and to @ValueSubtractedās point, speaks to the fundamental difference between the morality tale that each episode is setting up for our consideration. āThe Enemy Withinā aims to make the viewer uncomfortable by suggesting that Kirkās decisiveness is derived from his āevilā half and isnāt offering any commentary on the personhood of the āevilā half. So much so that they short circuit that possibility by slapping an expiration date on EvilKirk.
Best I can give you is that itās still technically murder if you kill a condemned man.
Killing two people who are both destined to die in the very near future to save one who will live for a considerably longer period and save a greater number of lives would be the right thing to do from a utilitarian standpoint. Tuvix, meanwhile, is a healthy being who was competent to discharge his duties and posed no threat.
Consequently, while there is an argument to be made that killing one person to revive two others is a net benefit, the burden of suffering on that one person is extreme, and whether or not it is outweighed by the positive nature of the two others returning to live is very much a matter of individual outlook.
It is also worth noting that Tuvok and Neelix as they existed before could be considered āalready deadā as a result of their combination into a single entity. Thus you could argue that what actually happened is that Tuvix ādiedā so that clones of the deceased Tuvok and Neelix could be created from him. Admittedly this is a shaky argument given the whole ādo transporters actually kill people in-universeā thing.
Could they? Vulcan physiology is weird.
While robust physically, mentally they can have issues that are hard to fix in the delta quadrant.
It feels too risky to me with the already known unknowns.