Dune and Philosophy: Minds, Monads, and Muad'Dib (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series)

Explore the universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune in all its philosophical richness “He who controls the spice controls the universe.” Frank Herbert’s Dune saga is the epic story of Paul, son of Duke Leto Atreides, and heir to the massive fortune promised by the desert planet Arrakis and its vast reservoirs of a drug called “spice.” To control the spice, Paul and his mother Jessica, a devotee of the pseudo-religious Bene Gesserit order, must find their place in the culture of the desert-dwelling Fremen of Arrakis. Paul must contend with both the devious rival House Harkonnen and the gargantuan desert sandworms—the source of the spice. The future of the Imperium depends upon one young man who will need to lead a new jihad to control the universe. Dune and Philosophy recruits 23 philosophers to sift wisdom from Frank Herbert’s Duniverse, including the first of an expected series of films following Paul “Muad’Dib” Atreides and his descendants, captivatingly brought to the big screen by Denis Villeneuve in 2021. Part of the New Wave of science fiction of the 60s and 70s, Dune is characterized by literary experimentation with shifting styles, differing narrative points of view, and with the “psychedelic” culture of the period. In Dune, the long-term strategies and intricate plots of warring Great Houses are driven not just by Heighliner spacecraft and lasguns, but also by mind-expanding drugs, psychic powers, dystopian themes, race memories, and martial arts allowing control of the mind and the body. Substantial yet accessible chapters address philosophical questions including: Is it morally right to create a savior? Would interplanetary travel change human nature? What is the deeper meaning of desert ecologies? In conflict, how can you stay light years ahead of your opponents? Are there some drugs we would want to be addicted to? Does history repeat itself? Tens of thousands of years into an intergalactic future, can humans endure or will we sacrifice what is most important in our humanity for power, glory, religion and of course, the control of the spice? Dune and Philosophy sets an intellectual course through sand and stars to find out. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Contributors: Navigators, Mentats, Fremen,and Bene Gesserit Introduction: “He Who Controls the Spice Controlsthe Universe” A Brief Dune Series Timeline Songs of Muad’Dib: Culture and Religion in Dune Chapter 1 Liberating Women’s Bodies: Feminist Philosophy and the Bene Gesserit of Dune The Female Body: Friend Not Foe Liberated Women A Balance Between Mind and Body Supernormal Powers Through Discipline Indirect Action Through the Way Notes Chapter 2 What Do Zendaya’s Blue Eyes Really Mean? “The unreadable total blue eyes of the spice diet” “The blue of the Ibad” “The shaded slits of blue within blue” “Without any white in them at all” “Blue within blue within blue” “I am Chani, daughter of Liet” Notes Chapter 3 The Golden Path and Multicultural Meanings of Life Albert Camus: Meaning Messiah The Buddha: Children of Meaning Socrates: Heretics of Meaning Susan Wolf: Chapterhouse – Meaning The Golden Path and Humanity: God Emperor of Meaning Orientalism or a Multicultural Golden Path? Multicultural Meanings of Life Notes Chapter 4 Messiahs, Jihads, and God Emperors: Should Humanity Just Give Up Religion? What’s Wrong with Religion? Religion in the Real World In Defense of Religion The Ethics of Belief Notes Chapter 5 (Re)defining Masculinity and Femininity in Villeneuve’s Dune “Did you put on some muscle?” “Honor requires that I be elsewhere” “Our conversation ran short” “So much potential wasted in a male” “When is a gift not a gift?” “You have more than one lineage” Notes Arrakis Awakening: Science and Ecology in Dune Chapter 6 Spiritual Realm Adaptation: Arrakeen Spice, Terrestrial Psychedelics, and Technique “Increase and Multiply”: Technology’s Over-efficiency Adapting to Dune Naturalizing the Unnatural Enduring Spiritual Realms The Sleeper Is Awake: What Now? Notes Chapter 7 Thinking Like a Desert: Environmental Philosophy and Dune Living Teachings, Left for Dead A Sand County Almanac’s Desert Outlook To Tame a Land? The Land Ethic on Arrakis Paul’s World-building Bildung Deadly Dedications and Dire Dangers Notes Chapter 8 Humans, Machines, and an Ethics for Technology in Dune Social Construction versus Technological Determinism Knives, Shields, Lasguns, and Feedback Loops Technology: Cultural Prestige, or Everyday Life? The Great Revolt to Set Humans Free The Forbidden “Thinking Machines” Freedom to Choose How We Want to Engineer Notes The Wisdom of Muad’Dib: Mind, Memory, and Interpretation in Dune Chapter 9 “Thou Shalt Make a Human Mind in the Likeness of a Machine”: Imitation, Thinking Machines, and Mentats The Imitation Game Opposing Thinking Machines Human Thinking Machines Notes Chapter 10 Herbert’s Gholas: Mystical Legends and Scientific Inspiration Golems Golems and Gholas Advanced Ghola Making: Duncan Idaho Flatworms and Caterpillars Notes Chapter 11 Psychological Expanses of Dune: Indigenous Philosophy, Americana, and Existentialism Place Is Where the Mind Is Desert Identities Bonding in Landscapes Working Together Fate, Will, and Worldbuilding Notes Chapter 12 Thatched Cottages at Cordeville: Hegel, Heidegger, and the Death of Art in Dune Where Words Are Unable to Explain Truth and Art Memory Work Cruel Shoes The Bad News The Good News Notes The Lens of Time: Freedom, History, and Evil in Dune Chapter 13 Should the Bene Gesserit Be in Charge? The Principle of Specialization The Bene Gesserit and Plato’s Guardians Forerunners of the Bene Gesserit in Speculative Fiction The Danger of the Bene Gesserit The Limits of Democracy Notes Chapter 14 Prisoners of Prophecy: Freedom and Foreknowledge in the Dune Series The Prisoner’s Dilemma Foreknowledge and the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma Prediction and Rationality Self-knowledge and Freedom Notes Chapter 15 Time versus History: A Conflict Central to Herbert’s Dune Future Sons of Atreus From Mythology to History From Herodotus to Herbert Another Kind of Sight: Time in the Dune Series History, Time, and the Golden Path Notes The Humanity of Muad’Dib: Morality and Ethics in Dune Chapter 16 Secher Nbiw and the Child’s Right to an Open Future Jessica’s Choice Opening the Future The Past–Present Alliance Choosing the Future Notes Chapter 17 The Spice of Life: Hedonism and Nozick in the Dune Universe The Baron: Hedonist Extraordinaire Paul Muad’Dib: Pleasure of Premonition Nozick’s Experience Machine and the Spice Melange The Duke Leto: Choosing People Over Pleasure The Fremen: Lost in Spice To Spice or Not to Spice? That Is the Question! Notes Chapter 18 “Less Than a God, More Than a Man”: Is It Morally Wrong to Make a Kwisatz Haderach? Human Enhancement in the Duniverse Personhood and Post-personhood Post-persons in the Duniverse Straight from the Philosopher’s Toolkit Expanded Consciousness and Empathy “That Which Makes a Man Superhuman Is Terrifying”20 Notes Chapter 19 That Which Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Shai-Hulud: Self-overcoming in Nietzsche, Hinduism, and Dune Are We Fremen or Unfremen? If the Stillsuit Fits, Wear It Can Unfremen Act Freely? Speaking of Bridges . . . The End of the Path Notes Lessons of the Great Revolt: Politics and War in Dune Chapter 20 The God Emperor and the Tyrant: The Political Theology of Frank Herbert’s Dune Saga Vice-regents of Heaven: Political Leaders and Political Religions Playing God: Knowledge and Justice The Full Glare of Awareness: Justice and the Big Picture Creating the Church-state: Some Earthly Precedents Gods Die Hard: Does It Ever Make Sense to Give Up Power? Notes Chapter 21 Lessons from Islamic Philosophy on the Politics of Paul Atreides: Galipcan Altinkaya and Mehmet Kuyurtar Religions of Truth Truth of Religion and Truth of Science Political Ideals versus Human Realities Paul’s Decision Notes Chapter 22 Why Settle for Hobbes’s Sovereign When You Could Have a God Emperor? Is It Just Me, or Is It Feeling Kind of State-of-Nature-y in Here? Diffidence Is the Mind-killer Seeking Sovereign, BYOM (Bring Your Own Makers) Is Leto II a Hobbesian Sovereign? Notes Chapter 23 The Mind at War: Conflict and Cognition in Frank Herbert’s Dune The Political Logic of Kanly Necessity and the Knowledge Advantage Uncertainty and Mentat Mentality The Secret Intelligence of Perception The Power of Bravura The Tragedy of Strategy Notes Index EULA