Reunites the editors of Star Trek and Philosophy with Starfleets finest experts for 31 new, highly logical essaysFeatures a complete examination of the Star Trek universe, from the original series to the most recent films directed by J.J. Abrams,Star Trek (2009) andStar Trek Into Darkness (2013)Introduces important concepts in philosophy through the vast array of provocative issues raised by the series, such as the ethics of the Prime Directive,Star Treks philosophy of peace, Data andVoyagers Doctor as persons, moral relativism and the Federations quest for liberation, the effect of alternate universes on reality and identity, the Borg as transhumanists, Federation Trekonomics,Star Treks secular society, and much, much more!An enterprising and enlightening voyage into deep space that will appeal to hardcore fans and science fiction enthusiasts alikePublishing in time to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the original TV series
Kevin S. Decker is Professor of Philosophy at Eastern Washington University, where he teaches ethics, American and Continental philosophy, and philosophy of popular culture. He is co-editor ofPhilosophy and Breaking Bad (2016) andWho is Who? The Philosophy of Doctor Who (2013). He is co-editor, with Jason T. Eberl, ofThe Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015),Star Trek and Philosophy (2008), andStar Wars and Philosophy (2005).
Jason T. Eberlis the Semler Endowed Chair for Medical Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he teaches bioethics, ethics, and medieval philosophy. He has edited or contributed to books onBattlestar Galactica,Sons of Anarchy, Metallica,Terminator,The Hunger Games,The Big Lebowski, Stanley Kubrick, J.J. Abrams, andAvatar. His most recent books areThe Routledge Guidebook to Aquinas' Summa Theologiae (2015) andThe Philosophy of Christopher Nolan (2016). He is co-editor, with Kevin S. Decker, ofThe Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015),Star Trek and Philosophy (2008), andStar Wars and Philosophy (2005).
Acknowledgments: The Command Staff of Utopia Planitia ix
Introduction: A Guide to Living Long and Prospering 1
I Alpha Quadrant: Home Systems 5
1 The More Complex the Mind, the Greater the Need for the Simplicity of Play 7
Jason T. Eberl
2 Aristotle and James T. Kirk: The Problem of Greatness 18
Jerold J. Abrams
3 The Moral Psychology of a Starship Captain 26
Tim Challans
4 Make It So: Kant, Confucius, and the Prime Directive 36
Alejandro Barcenas and Steve Bein
5 Destroying Utopias: Why Kirk Is a Jerk 47
David Kyle Johnson
6 We Are Not Going to Kill Today: Star Trek and the Philosophy of Peace 59
David Boersema
II Beta Quadrant: Dangerous Rivalries 69
7 Klingons: A Cultural Pastiche 71
Victor Grech
8 The Borg as Contagious Collectivist Techno-Totalitarian Transhumanists 83
Dan Dinello
9 Assimilation and Autonomy 95
Barbara Stock
10 Q: A Rude, Interfering, Inconsiderate, Sadistic Peston a Quest for Justice? 105
Kyle Alkema and Adam Barkman
11 Federation Trekonomics: Marx, the Federation, and the Shift from Necessity to Freedom 115
Jeff Ewing
12 The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few: Utilitarianism and Star Trek 127
Greg Littmann
13 Casuistry in the Final Frontier 138
Courtland Lewis
III Delta Quadrant: Questing for Home 149
14 Today Is a Good Day to Die! Transporters and Human Extinction 151
William Jaworski
15 Two Kirks, Two Rikers 162
Trip McCrossin
16 Data, Kant, and Personhood; or,Why Data Is Not a Toaster 172
Nina Rosenstand
17 Humans, Androids, Cyborgs, and Virtual Beings: All aboard the Enterprise 180
Dennis M.Weiss
18 Photons (and Drones) Be Free: Phenomenology and the Life-Worlds of Voyagers Doctor and Seven of Nine 190
Nicole R. Pramik
19 Vision Quest into Indigenous Space 199
Walter Robinson
IV Gamma Quadrant: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations 211
20 Rethinking the Matter: Organians Are Still Organisms 213
Melanie Johnson-Moxley
21 In Search of . . . Friendship: What We Can Learn from Androids and Vulcans 223
James M. Okapal
22 Resistance Is Negligible: In Praise of Cyborgs 232
Lisa Cassidy
23 Who I Really Am: Odo, Mead, and the Self 243
Pamela JG Boyer
24 Is Liberation Ever a Bad Thing? Enterprises Cogenitor and Moral Relativism 253
William A. Lindenmuth
25 Resistance Really Is Futile: On Being Assimilated by Our Own Technology 264
Dena Hurst
V Beyond the Galactic Barrier: The Future as the Final Frontier 273
26 Life on a Holodeck: What Star Trek Can Teach Us about the True Nature of Reality 275
Dara Fogel
27 Which Spock Is the Real One? Alternate Universes and Identity 288
Andrew Zimmerman Jones
28 Strangely Compelling: Romanticism in The City on the Edge of Forever 299
Sarah OHare
29 It Is a Q of Life: Q as a Nietzschean Figure 308
Charles Taliaferro and Bailey Wheelock
30 A God Needs Compassion, but Not a Starship: Star Treks Humanist Theology 315
James F. McGrath
31 The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning: Star Treks Secular Society 326
Kevin S. Decker
Contributors: Federation Ambassadors to Babel 340
Index 349
