* Reunites the editors of Star Trek and Philosophy with Starfleet s finest experts for 31 new, highly logical essays * Features a complete examination of the Star Trek universe, from the original series to the most recent films directed by J.J.
- Reunites the editors of Star Trek and Philosophy with Starfleet’s finest experts for 31 new, highly logical essays
- Features 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) and Star 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 Trek’s philosophy of peace, Data and Voyager’s Doctor as persons, moral relativism and the Federation’s quest for liberation, the effect of alternate universes on reality and identity, the Borg as transhumanists, Federation Trekonomics,Star Trek’s secular society, and much, much more…!
- An enterprising and enlightening voyage into deep space that will appeal to hardcore fans and science fiction enthusiasts alike
- Publishing in time to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the original TV series
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 B´arcenas 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
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 of Philosophy and Breaking Bad (2016) and Who is Who? The Philosophy of Doctor Who (2013). He is co-editor, with Jason T. Eberl, of The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), Star Trek and Philosophy (2008), and Star 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 on Battlestar Galactica, Sons of Anarchy, Metallica, Terminator, The Hunger Games, The Big Lebowski, Stanley Kubrick, J.J. Abrams, and Avatar. His most recent books are The Routledge Guidebook to Aquinas' Summa Theologiae (2015) and The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan (2016). He is co-editor, with Kevin S. Decker, of The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), Star Trek and Philosophy (2008), and Star Wars and Philosophy (2005).
