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“...including the parade of paparazzi and celebrity interviewers who would inevitably camp out on the lawn, the various authorities, promoters, and hucksters who would be bringing requests and urgent demands to his family and friends in order to get some back-door access to him…”(Morris 259).

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“...including the parade of paparazzi and celebrity interviewers who would inevitably camp out on the lawn, the various authorities, promoters, and hucksters who would be bringing requests and urgent demands to his family and friends in order to get some back-door access to him…”(Morris 259).

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Huckster (n) Someone who sells or advertises something in an aggressive, dishonest, or annoying way. As soon as the news got out, all the hucksters in the city came rushing to his door trying to get an in with him.

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“I think the multiverse conjecture that fits best is one that explicitly postulates a second time dimension: call it hypertime. Anyone who postulates a multiverse to permit time travel without changing the past is committed to hypertime. Look at it this way. If Joe leaves his native timeline in 2020, and arrives in another timeline in “1984”, what makes this a past time? It’s not in his native timeline at all. We can make sense of this only if we impose a plane of time on the branching lattice”(Hanley 245).

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“I think the multiverse conjecture that fits best is one that explicitly postulates a second time dimension: call it hypertime. Anyone who postulates a multiverse to permit time travel without changing the past is committed to hypertime. Look at it this way. If Joe leaves his native timeline in 2020, and arrives in another timeline in “1984”, what makes this a past time? It’s not in his native timeline at all. We can make sense of this only if we impose a plane of time on the branching lattice”(Hanley 245).

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This theory is very interesting because it seems to eliminate all theoretical problems with time travel. If you are not actually altering your timeline or even the past at all, then there is no way to form paradoxes involving your actions and presence. However it seems to go against everything we as humans are accustomed to thinking. We always imagine time as a one-dimensional variable, only going forward or (theoretically) backward. But thinking of time as a two-dimensional plane opens up the possibilities of science and philosophy, and could even one day solve many of life’s great mysteries pertaining to the behavior of matter, particularly on the quantum level.

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“If the big green (or gray) Hulk body and raging Hulk consciousness both arise causally from the body and mind of Bruce Banner in certain ways, then perhaps that is sufficient to constitute personal identity through such radical change”(Kinghorn 231).

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“If the big green (or gray) Hulk body and raging Hulk consciousness both arise causally from the body and mind of Bruce Banner in certain ways, then perhaps that is sufficient to constitute personal identity through such radical change”(Kinghorn 231).

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The interesting part of this passage is its relation to the essay as a whole. If read on its own, this passage seems rather vague and unsure of itself, but comparing it to the rest of the essay it is actually very definite and sound. The earlier paragraphs suggest theories of what constitutes identity, especially through memory, and goes on to debunk them all. Reaching this final theory and not having much criticism for it makes it much more accurate than its phrasing suggests, showing that it is important to understand the context of a piece and not just critique individual parts.

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October 14, 2016

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“Interestingly, naturalism has its own eschatology, an account of the final outcome of things very different from the one to be found in Christian theism”(Tallon and Walls 211).

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“Interestingly, naturalism has its own eschatology, an account of the final outcome of things very different from the one to be found in Christian theism”(Tallon and Walls 211).

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Eschatology (n)
The part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind.
Christian eschatology tells that God will eventually judge everyone on their moral and religious behavior, determining whether or not they can spend their eternal lives with Him.

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“On the plausible assumption that no negative duties [moral duties not to treat people simply as means to an end] are violated either by Peter Parker’s choosing to be Spider-Man or by his choosing not to be Spider-Man, and assuming that either choice will allow him to satisfy some positive duties (helping people, for example, by doing the things that superheroes do, or alternately by investing his energies in medically beneficial scientific research), nonconsequentialists will conclude that both options are allowable”(Robichaud 186).

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“On the plausible assumption that no negative duties [moral duties not to treat people simply as means to an end] are violated either by Peter Parker’s choosing to be Spider-Man or by his choosing not to be Spider-Man, and assuming that either choice will allow him to satisfy some positive duties (helping people, for example, by doing the things that superheroes do, or alternately by investing his energies in medically beneficial scientific research), nonconsequentialists will conclude that both options are allowable”(Robichaud 186).

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This moral philosophy is not only satisfying in the sense of the comic, but also encouraging to people in the real world that they can still do the right thing whether or not they are risking their lives to do it. It is often the view in our society that the only true heroes are people like cops and firefighters, whereas nonconsequentialism shows that heroes can be people like scientists and teachers as well, and even arguably artists and athletes, because they fulfill all their negative duties, and can even fulfill some positive duties as well because they inspire others.

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“In the early days of superhero comics when the character of Captain Marvel was created, the counsel of wisdom could be regarded without skepticism because we weren’t widely suspicious about the claims of the larger picture against the smaller”(Thau 140).

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“In the early days of superhero comics when the character of Captain Marvel was created, the counsel of wisdom could be regarded without skepticism because we weren’t widely suspicious about the claims of the larger picture against the smaller”(Thau 140).

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The idea that wisdom’s significance and validity has diminished in modern society can be seen simply through the fact that many people could not define wisdom easily off the top of their head. The interesting question is why ideas towards wisdom have shifted so much in the past 75 years. This shift can be seen through comics especially, from the evolution from the Golden Age of characters like Superman and Captain Marvel saving all that they could, to the Silver Age of people like the X-Men saving those who were being discriminated against and persecuted, to the Modern Age of very dark comics about questioning authority and trying to prevent personal tragedies. This shift in focus of comics from doing things for the greater good to protecting yourself and your family reflects the societal shift from deep respect for wisdom, to deep respect for empathy. It is still a mystery to me why this shift has occurred, however.

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October 7, 2016

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“What keeps Batman from having what Aristotle considered a complete friendship?...A good measure of the responsibility seems to lie on his doorstep. Such a friendship requires a large personal investment. This is almost impossible for Batman after the promise he made to his dead parents”(Morris 115).

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“What keeps Batman from having what Aristotle considered a complete friendship?...A good measure of the responsibility seems to lie on his doorstep. Such a friendship requires a large personal investment. This is almost impossible for Batman after the promise he made to his dead parents”(Morris 115).

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This quote exemplifies something wholly unique about superheroes and comic books. These stories set up situations in which things that seem negative and nearly impossible in the real world, like having an inherent inability to ever truly have friends, are commonplace and are often marks of a great hero. This dichotomy shows the two polar ends of what people and societies strive for: to be constantly personally social and emotional as well as deeply invested in your success and happiness, and to sacrifice your needs and feelings to benefit the overall society. Superheroes often tend to display the latter constitution, while the real world thinks more about the former.

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“...they reason that the more super an individual might be, the less heroic he or she could possibly be, and conversely, the more heroic a person is, the less super they’d have to be. The reasoning is simple. The more powerful a person is, the less he or she would risk in fighting evil or helping someone else”(Loeb and Morris 12). 

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“...they reason that the more super an individual might be, the less heroic he or she could possibly be, and conversely, the more heroic a person is, the less super they’d have to be. The reasoning is simple. The more powerful a person is, the less he or she would risk in fighting evil or helping someone else”(Loeb and Morris 12). 

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This quote shows an interesting perspective on superheroes that is not often considered. Superheroes are looked up to because they can do fantastic and unimaginable things, but if those things are normal and easy for them, is it really that special? Obviously to us they seem to be sacrificing themselves for the greater good, but in reality they are simply living their lives and using their abilities, no different than artists or athletes. It is also interesting to note how the authors distance themselves from this view by pointing out that “they”, meaning other people, reason this ideology.

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“In short, wherever we find narratives that concern the moral progress of individuals, we are likely to find a story where moral perfectionism is illuminati be”(South 90).

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“In short, wherever we find narratives that concern the moral progress of individuals, we are likely to find a story where moral perfectionism is illuminati be”(South 90).

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Moral Perfectionism
(n) What's at stake in moral perfectionism is the development of a distinctive moral self.
The main character's drive towards constant self improvement is an example of the moral perfectionism featured in this novel.

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“Campbell's definitive work on the mythologies of all cultures is crucial for understanding the parallels between traditional mythology and Hollywood superhero myths. It can also be used to construct important elements of a philosophy of human nature, focused especially on the question of what is involved in heroic excellence”(Housel 76).

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“Campbell's definitive work on the mythologies of all cultures is crucial for understanding the parallels between traditional mythology and Hollywood superhero myths. It can also be used to construct important elements of a philosophy of human nature, focused especially on the question of what is involved in heroic excellence”(Housel 76).

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The idea that Hollywood is the modern form of mythology is very interesting. Movies are often where we look to as children and sometimes even as adults for our morals and ideas of how the world should work. This is very evident in superhero movies in particular, as Housel argued. These movies highlight in a blunt manner what we as a modern society view as moral or ideal and what people can and should do to be considered “heroic” in the modern age.

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September 30, 2016

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265 pages
DUE DATES:
9/23 - pages 1-74 -- 9/30 - pages 75-129 -- 10/7 - pages 130-220 -- 10/14 - pages 221-265

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September 23, 2016

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"...so unspeakably distant that it beggars description"(Taliaferro and Lindahl-Urben 69).

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"...so unspeakably distant that it beggars description"(Taliaferro and Lindahl-Urben 69).

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Beggar description
(v)  Defy or outdo any possible description.
The painting was so poignant, it beggared description.

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"One colloquial argument against vigilantism is sometimes invoked against government power itself: how do you know you're right? Batman harms only wrongdoers, but the Sons of Batman are less well grounded in both detective skills and ethics"(Skoble 40).

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"One colloquial argument against vigilantism is sometimes invoked against government power itself: how do you know you're right? Batman harms only wrongdoers, but the Sons of Batman are less well grounded in both detective skills and ethics"(Skoble 40).

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This is very interesting as it shows how individual self-perception can impact our views on right and wrong. The sans of Batman are not intending to be cruel or incompetent, they simply do not understand how what they are doing is different than what Batman does. As Skoble said, this is also clear in modern politics. The rulers of foreign countries may be doing things that are objectively wrong, but to them it may not seem that way, or they may not understand the true impact of their actions and decisions.

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Short Bio - why did you choose this particular book?

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Short Bio - why did you choose this particular book?

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I am interested in both superheroes and philosophy, so this seemed like the perfect book for me. This book was recommended to me by a friend, and so I decided to read it. It is a book targeted towards fans of comics rather than professional philosophers, so it is very easy for anyone to read. I find the deeper and more metaphysical aspects of comics very interesting, and am glad that there is a book which will help me ponder and explore these topics further in the comics I love.