The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy: The Search for Socrates (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series)

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 THE ULTIMATE STAR TREK AND PHILOSOPHY Contents Acknowledgments: The Command Staff of Utopia Planitia Introduction: A Guide to Living Long and Prospering Part I Alpha Quadrant: Home Systems 1 “The More Complex the Mind, the Greater the Need for the Simplicity of Play” Life Is Not for the Timid Mrs. Sisko, Can Bennie Come Out and Play? Our “Continuing Mission” Notes 2 Aristotle and James T. Kirk: The Problem of Greatness Kirk and Megalopsychia Kirk as a Law unto Himself Exile to Delta Vega Captain of the Enterprise Notes 3 The Moral Psychology of a Starship Captain “I Dont Believe in No-Win Scenarios” “I Would Have Told Him Anything” “I Have a Chance to Change All That” “No Better Than the Enemy” “The Tapestry of My Life” Notes 4 “Make It So”: Kant, Confucius, and the Prime Directive The Search for Spocks Conscience Into Vagueness The Final Moral Frontier Notes 5 Destroying Utopias: Why Kirk Is a Jerk Kirk Is a Spoiled Spor(e)t Mission Log Mayhem Drugs Are Bad, Mmkay? They're Not Flourishing! “This Isn't Life—Its Stagnation” Whats So Important about Self-Actualization? But Are They Free? Kirk Is a Jerk Notes 6 “We Are Not Going to Kill Today”: Star Trek and the Philosophy of Peace Justice, Peace, and a “Right to the Clouds” “We All Have Our Darker Side”: Causes of Violence “Some Had to Die That Others Might Live”: Justifications for Violence “No Kill I”: Alternatives to Violence “Peace and Long Life”: Star Treks Message of Peace Notes Part II Beta Quadrant: Dangerous Rivalries 7 Klingons: A Cultural Pastiche First Appearances: “They're Animals!” “The Way of the Warrior” “Our Gods Are Dead. Ancient Klingon Warriors Slew Them Millennia Ago” “I Dont Care What You Look Like, You Are No Klingon!” “The Federation Is No More Than a Homo sapiens–Only Club” Notes 8 The Borg as Contagious Collectivist Techno-Totalitarian Transhumanists Cybernetic Servitude “Resistance Is Futile, You Must Comply” “We Wish to Improve Ourselves” “Freedom Is Irrelevant” Notes 9 Assimilation and Autonomy Autonomy Analyzed “Voyager Is My Collective” Evangelical Autonomy Notes 10 Q: A Rude, Interfering, Inconsiderate, Sadistic Pest—on a Quest for Justice? Solitary, Nasty, Brutish, and Q Liberty, yet Not Q License eQual by Nature Qumanity Notes 11 Federation Trekonomics: Marx, the Federation, and the Shift from Necessity to Freedom Capitalism Is Most Illogical Dammit, Marx, Im a communist, not a Communist! Set Phasers to “Revolution” To Boldly Conclude... Notes 12 “The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few”: Utilitarianism and Star Trek “Illogical” Human Emotions The Limits of Sacrifice Friendship and Loyalty Your Orders, Captain? Notes 13 Casuistry in the Final Frontier Set Phasers to Learn Boldly Going Where No Genre Can Go SCIENCE!!!... I Mean, KHAAAN!!! Is There a Bones in the House? Star Trek, You Have Been and Shall Always Be My Friend Live Long and Use Casuistry Notes Part III Delta Quadrant: Questing for Home 14 “Today Is a Good Day to Die!” Transporters and Human Extinction “I Cannae Change the Laws of Physics!” “Suppose They Went Nowhere?” “Remember...” “I'm a Doctor, Not a Soul!” Would the Real Riker Please Beam Up? “Whats So Damn Troublesome about Not Having Died?” Notes 15 Two Kirks, Two Rikers (Gregorian) 1694 to (Stardate) 1672 Being “Half a Man,” but Still a Whole “Double” Two Whole Rikers Kirks and Rikers and What's in the Bathwater Notes 16 Data, Kant, and Personhood; or, Why Data Is Not a Toaster “The Measure of a Man” Pinocchios and Future Datas Rational Beings as Ends-in-Themselves Is Data an End in Himself, or Merely a Means to an End? The Bigger Picture Notes 17 Humans, Androids, Cyborgs, and Virtual Beings: All aboard the Enterprise To Be a Man, or at Least a Mind “You Need to Learn to Play” “Spend Some Time with... Family” “That Is What It Is to Be Human” Notes 18 Photons (and Drones) Be Free: Phenomenology and the Life-Worlds of Voyagers Doctor and Seven of Nine “Please State the Nature of the Philosophical Emergency” “The Fun Will Now Commence” “Here Begins a New Life” “Now That I Am an Individual, Those Same Voices Frighten Me” “I Am One. I Will Adapt” “Until I Spent a Day in Your Skin, I Never Knew What I Was Missing” “To All That Makes Us Unique” Notes 19 Vision Quest into Indigenous Space “Lets Find out What Life-Forms Are Blessed by This Environment” “A Very Peaceful, Friendly People, Living on A Primitive Level” “And the Children Shall Lead” “I Knew the Spirits Have Chosen You to Be a Contrary” “You Are a Sacred Person Here, Wesley” “If You Have No Spirits to Guide You, I Fear You Will Lose Your Way” Notes Part IV Gamma Quadrant: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations 20 Rethinking the Matter: Organians Are Still Organisms Even Space Clouds Need Food... and Love Collapse the Polarity! The Continuing Voyage Notes 21 “In Search of...” Friendship: What We Can Learn from Androids and Vulcans “Never Place Friendship above Profit” “Because the Needs of the One Outweigh the Needs of the Many” “The Continuing Voyages...” Notes 22 Resistance Is Negligible: In Praise of Cyborgs A Matrix of Three: Locutus A Matrix of Three: Hugh A Matrix of Three: Seven of Nine A Cyborg Manifesto Resistance Was Negligible Notes 23 “Who I Really Am”: Odo, Mead, and the Self “It Doesnt Know How... Its Just a Baby” Proto-holodeck? Theres No I in Team, but There Is in Win Is All Growing but a Transition? Only Change Doesnt Change Notes 24 Is Liberation Ever a Bad Thing? Enterprises “Cogenitor” and Moral Relativism “So Much for the Little Training Cruise” “Keep an Open Mind, Commander” “Insufficient Facts Always Invites Danger” “Were Out Here to Meet New Species, Not Tell Them What to Do!” Trying out Ones New Phaser “Is Your Entire Species So Ill Mannered?”—“Nope... Just Me” “You Had No Business Interfering with Those People” Notes 25 Resistance Really Is Futile: On Being Assimilated by Our Own Technology “I Am the Beginning. The End. The One Who Is Many. I Am the Borg.” “Toward a State of Perfection” Just Ask Guinan “Resistance Is Futile” Notes Part V Beyond the Galactic Barrier: The Future as the Final Frontier 26 Life on a Holodeck: What Star Trek Can Teach Us about the True Nature of Reality Of Humans and Holograms The Holographic Hypothesis Is Reality an App? Cant Tell a Soul without a Program Whos Playing What? Cogito Ergo Sum? Notes 27 Which Spock Is the Real One? Alternate Universes and Identity The Search for Which Spock? Kiri-kin-thas First Law of Metaphysics “I Liked Him with the Beard Better” “I Have Been and Always Shall Be...” Notes 28 “Strangely Compelling”: Romanticism in “The City on the Edge of Forever” “The Source of All the Time Disturbance” “Modern Museum Perfection” “Stone Knives and Bearskins” “I Am ... My Own Ending” Notes 29 It Is a Q of Life: Q as a Nietzschean Figure To Cultivate Ones Individuality Existential Trials The Necessity of Q Notes 30 A God Needs Compassion, but Not a Starship: Star Treks Humanist Theology “Do You Have Any Gods, Captain?” “Well, Dont Just Stand There. Gods a Busy Man!” “For All Our Knowledge, All Our Advances, Were Just as Mortal as You Are” Notes 31 “The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning”: Star Treks Secular Society “I Never Met a God Before”—“And You Havent Yet” “You Dont Understand Something So You Become Fearful” “We Can All Be Counted upon to Live Down to Our Lowest Impulses” “This Would Be the Second Time Lucifer Was Cast Out” Notes Contributors: Federation Ambassadors to Babel Index EULA This volume reunites the editors of Star Trek and Philosophy with Starfleet s finest experts for 31 new, highly logical essays. It 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 The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy boldly goes where no book has gone before in pursuit of a greater philosophical understanding of the galaxy's final frontier. It reunites the editors of Star Trek and Philosophy with Starfleet's finest experts for 31 new, highly logical essays to provide a thorough 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). The essays introduce 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, and Star Trek's secular society A Collection Of Highly Logical Essays That Provide A Thorough Examination Of The Star Trek Universe-- From The Original Series To Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). The Questions Raised-- And Sometimes Answered-- Range From The Ethics Of The Prime Directive To The Identity Of Data And Holograms As People. Introduction: A Guide To Living Long And Prospering -- Alpha Quadrant: Home Systems -- Beta Quadrant: Dangerous Rivalries -- Delta Quadrant: Questing For Home -- Gamma Quadrant: Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations -- Beyond The Galactic Barrier: The Future As The Final Frontier. Edited By Kevin S. Decker And Jason T. Eberl. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.