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Superman and Philosophy What Would the Man of Steel Do? Mark D White William Irwin Books

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Superman and Philosophy What Would the Man of Steel Do? Mark D White William Irwin Books

Originally I didn't buy this product due to the price, but the price came down and I bought it. I'm glad I did. As a long time superhero fan, I've always thought that the subject of super hero ethics as an interesting topic that gets glossed over in the actual comics. Superman especially has a special place in the DC universe. In many ways, Superman is the hub around which everything in that universe revolves. He's the ethical heart of the Justice League and the example all super heroes are judged against. He's the one who can command the respect of the entire superhero community and indeed normal people as well. Yet he lies to keep his secret identity (mostly to protect his loved ones) and has to make hard choices on a regular basis.

It's worth doing to consider Superman's ethics as representative of how we would want our heroes to act if we had them (and of course we do though they don't fly through the air or shoot fire from their eyes). It's also worth considering these things in light of the newest Superman "re-imagining". The Christopher Reeve movies sought to bring a fairly accurate representative of the comic book Superman to the screen. The last two movies have both taken the character further from not only his representation in the comics but also his fundamental character. Since his reason for being it to embody this fundamental character, these movies, especially the latest one loses this essential aspect making Superman into just another Alien with terrifying power and a dark driven nature. In effect they make Superman into a Kryptonian version of Batman. This book is a good way for modern movie goers to reconnect with what Superman is "supposed" to be and provides a good context for the character.


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Superman and Philosophy What Would the Man of Steel Do? Mark D White William Irwin Books Reviews

This is an excellent look at the mind, the heart, the body, the soul and the spirit of the most iconic and recognizable and original superhero in the world.
Meant to buy paper copy of book. Unable to get money back for digital copy.
THE VIEW FROM SPACE

All in all this is an acceptable effort in Wiley-Blackwell's "philosophy and popular culture" series. Editor Mark D. White has done a decent job in putting together a pleasant collection of essays that address a number of the philosophical issues that can be found in the Superman franchise in all of its manifestations the comic books and all the incarnations and re-boots; the many TV series; and, of course, the movies, one of which will be hitting theaters this Friday. It's worth picking up, but, I think more effort could have been made on a number of fronts. And the presence of numerous typographical and grammatical errors did not help. Overall, it's more than "mild-mannered", but not as "super" as it could have been. Like looking at the phone booth and catching "the Big Blue Boy Scout" right in the middle of changing clothes.

EARTH-TWO

When you think about "the Big Blue Boy Scout" (God how I hated reading that so many times! Stop calling Superman that!), a number of obvious topics come to mind Superman versus Lex Luthor (check), Superman and the issue of his dual identity (double check), and even Superman as an expression of Nietzsche's "Ubermensch" (gut check!). But I didn't see essays that covered other relevant topics. For example, Superman has his biological parents, with whom he touches base via recordings at the Fortress of Solitude, and his adoptive parents, who found him and raised him in Kansas. What duties does one owe one's parents? Does one owe a duty of friendship to them? I would have liked to have seen Superman's love life investigated. Love is said to be a "second-order" emotion, why was this theme not developed? With so many re-boots and issues of time travel and alternate worlds, why did no one step up to the plate and look at the philosophy of history? Is history written by one man making a choice, or are historical events inevitable? And finally, Superman is not human, as a number of the essays noted. Does his love life with Lois Lane constitute something... unsavory? Or is cross-species sex acceptable when the individuals are as intelligent and self-aware as human beings, when they are moral agents and not moral patients? And so on. In general, the essays herein played it safe, and focused on the obvious philosophical angles Nietzsche's Ubermensch, the problem of identity, the ethics of superpower, the responsibility of a superman, what is human nature, and, as noted earlier, Superman versus Lex Luthor.

GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST!

Editor Mark D. White begins the collection with "Moral Judgment The Power That Makes Superman Human". We get the three schools of ethics, but the focus is on Kant's idea that duties require the "power of judgment sharpened by experience". Yet the example of Lois Lane deciding whether to use blackmail to obtain information for a story that, as a consequence, will also make Metropolis a safer place to live, ignores both the ethical principles that journalists are supposed to adhere to (refer to Jason Southworth and Ruth Tallman's later essay "Can the Man of Tomorrow Be the Journalist of Today") and the fact that Lois Lane is not responsible for ending corruption. Poor judgment on Lois Lane's part, I would think. (And no, the "curse" did not strike here.)

FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE

A few of the essays were good compare and contrasts. Leonard Finkelman's "Superman and Man What a Kryptonian Can Teach Us About Humanity" explored human nature by comparing Hobbes' pessimism to Rousseau's compassion. No matter where you start, society eventually makes people swing toward the other end of the spectrum. Carsten Fogh Nielsen's "World's Finest Philosophers Superman and Batman on Human Nature" compared Hobbes and Hegel. For Hobbes, Man's nature is to be in a constant state of war, whereas Hegel focuses on human beings' need for recognition and outside validation.

A few of the essays took the approach that Lex Luthor is more in the right than Superman. Arno Bogaerts' "Rediscovering Nietzsche's Ubermensch in Superman as a Heroic Ideal" shows how Nietzsche`s ideas of self-mastery, self-creation, and challenging the status quo make Lex Luthor more the Ubermensch than Superman (although Lex Luthor does miss the mark). Sarah K. Donovan and Nicholas Richrdson's "Superman Must Be Destroyed! Lex Luthor as Existentialist Anti-Hero" presents Lex Luthor's position that Superman's constant interference in human affairs prevents people from viewing their lives as an ongoing project.

CRISIS IN FINITE ESSAYS!

Daniel P. Malloy's "Clark Kent Is Superman! The Ethics of Secrecy" was confusing, and wasn't really philosophy. I wish Mr. Malloy hadn't kept his point so... secret. I enjoyed reading Will Herberg's definition of "the American Way" (p. 72) in Andrew Terjesen's "Is Superman an American Icon?", but thought that this essay was more feel-good social commentary than philosophy. Mr. Terjesen made up for this in his second essay, " Can the Man of Steel Feel Our Pain? Sympathy and Superman". Superman is a near-indestructible being from another planet, how can he truly "feel our pain"? Mr. Terjesen explores how one can understand the thoughts and feelings of another by looking at various theories, and gives his essay a nice twist at the end when he suggests that the very rich and well-off could look to Superman as a moral example for sympathizing with the less fortunate.

The last essay, Mahesh Ananth's "Why Superman Should Not Be Able to Read Minds" had a good idea but I felt let down. Mr. Ananth tries to show that, although Superman has been shown to have some mind-reading and mind-influencing power, he really shouldn't, and in fact can't. (Wait, what?) Mr. Ananth's definition of "emergentism" (p, 227) seemed to me to be the definition of "dualism". Why call it "emergentism"', then? (Is that even a real word?) I felt that Mr. Ananth's essay was repetitive, and I wish he would have just let me try to read his mind, I think I would have gotten the point a lot quicker.

FINAL EDITION of THE DAILY PLANET

This book has gone to press just before the next Superman movie comes out this Friday. Although I have already heard that the movie won't be worth seeing (allegedly), you can make up for any let-down by picking up a copy of this book. John V. Karavitis
I got it as a gift for a huge superman fan. Any one who is into superman will appreciate this book.
profound and collective discussions on man of steel. highly recommend if you are a superman fan.
Great read
This was a solid read and really inspired me to pick up quite a few graphic novels that were source material. My only gripe is I felt like a few of the chapters were replays of each other with several of the professors basically saying the same thing. Overall it's an entertaining read though.
Originally I didn't buy this product due to the price, but the price came down and I bought it. I'm glad I did. As a long time superhero fan, I've always thought that the subject of super hero ethics as an interesting topic that gets glossed over in the actual comics. Superman especially has a special place in the DC universe. In many ways, Superman is the hub around which everything in that universe revolves. He's the ethical heart of the Justice League and the example all super heroes are judged against. He's the one who can command the respect of the entire superhero community and indeed normal people as well. Yet he lies to keep his secret identity (mostly to protect his loved ones) and has to make hard choices on a regular basis.

It's worth doing to consider Superman's ethics as representative of how we would want our heroes to act if we had them (and of course we do though they don't fly through the air or shoot fire from their eyes). It's also worth considering these things in light of the newest Superman "re-imagining". The Christopher Reeve movies sought to bring a fairly accurate representative of the comic book Superman to the screen. The last two movies have both taken the character further from not only his representation in the comics but also his fundamental character. Since his reason for being it to embody this fundamental character, these movies, especially the latest one loses this essential aspect making Superman into just another Alien with terrifying power and a dark driven nature. In effect they make Superman into a Kryptonian version of Batman. This book is a good way for modern movie goers to reconnect with what Superman is "supposed" to be and provides a good context for the character.