Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine is a book published by Open Court publishing and edited by Kevin S. Decker and Jason T. Eberl. It contains various essays that discuss and analyze the Star Wars movies from the perspective of real-world philosophy, and compares Star Wars philosophy with real-world philosophy.

Contents 1 Publisher's summary 1.1 Back cover description 1.2 Internal flap 2 Contents 3 External links

Publisher's summaryEdit

Back cover descriptionEdit

Sensed a disturbance in The Force lately? This is what’s been setting your midi-chlorians tingling. Seventeen Jedi adepts got together to probe the deeper reaches of the Star Wars epic. A hazardous quest—philosophy is more risky than not letting a Wookiee win. Now their wisdom has been imprinted on sheets of extruded wood pulp and conveyed across hyperspace into our galaxy.

Why do bad Sith nearly always tell the truth and good Jedi often tell lies? When is it justified to raise an army by breeding clones? If the Force must have a Dark Side, how can the Dark Side be evil? Why and how did the tyrannical Empire emerge from the free Republic? Are droids persons, entitled to civil rights? Is Yoda a Stoic or a Zen master?

This is the Jedi’s most precious possession. The answers are all here. You may want to go home and rethink your life.

Internal flapEdit

The universe created by George Lucas for his immensely popular Star Wars films (and books, and TV shows, and comics...) has proved to be much more than a fantastic setting for epic spaceship battles and lightsaber duels. These stories—which have permeated popular culture worldwide—also investigate complex philosophical themes such as the problem of evil, destiny versus free will, artificial intelligence and consciousness, faith, virtue, redemption, and more.

The essays in this volume tackle the philosophical questions raised by these blockbuster films, including: Was Anakin predestined to fall to the Dark Side? Are the Jedi truly role models of moral virtue? Why would the citizens and protectors of a democratic republic allow it to descend into a tyrannical empire? Why does The Force have both a light side and a dark side? Star Wars and Philosophy ponders the depths of these subjects and asks what it truly means to be mindful of the "living force."

ContentsEdit

Acknowledgments: Heroes of Rogue Squadron

Introduction: The Force Is with You ... but You're Not a Jedi Yet

Part I: "May The Force Be with You": The Philosophical Messages of Star Wars

• 1 "You Cannot Escape Your Destiny" (Or Can You?): Freedom and Predestination in the Skywalker Family
• 2 Stoicism in the Stars: Yoda, the Emperor, and the Force
• 3 The Far East of Star Wars
• 4 Moral Ambiguity in a Black-and-White Universe

Part II: "Try Not-Do or Do Not": Ethics in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

• 5 The Aspiring Jedi's Handbook of Virtue
• 6 "A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy": Star Wars and the Problem of Evil
• 7 "Be Mindful of the Living Force": Environmental Ethics in Star Wars
• 8 Send in the Clones: The Ethics of Future Wars

Part III: "Don't Call Me a Mindless Philosopher!": Alien Technologies and the Metaphysics of The Force

• 9 A Technological Galaxy: Heidegger and the Philosophy of Technology in Star Wars
• 10 "If Droids Could Think ...": Droids as Slaves and Persons
• 11 "Size Matters Not": The Force as the Causal Power of the Jedi
• 12 The Force Is With Us: Hegel's Philosophy of Spirit Strikes Back at the Empire

Part IV: "There's Always a Bigger Fish": Truth, Faith and a Galactic Society

• 13 "What Is Thy Bidding, My Master?": Star Wars and the Hegelian Struggle for Recognition
• 14 By Any Means Necessary: Tyranny, Democracy, Republic, and Empire
• 15 Humanizing Technology: Flesh and Machine in Aristotle and The Empire Strikes Back
• 16 "A Certain Point of View": Lying Jedi, Honest Sith, and the Viewers Who Love Them
• 17 Religious Pragmatism through the Eyes of Luke Skywalker

Masters of the Jedi Council

• Jerold J. Abrams
• Robert Arp
• Judy Barad
• Christopher M. Brown
• Brian K. Cameron
• Elizabeth F. Cooke
• Kevin S. Decker
• Richard Dees
• Jerome Donnelly
• Jason T. Eberl
• Shanti Fader
• Richard Hanley
• Jan-Erik Jones
• James Lawler
• Joseph W. Long
• Walter Robinson
• William O. Stephens

The Phantom Index

External linksEdit

• Publishers page for the book
• Amazon.com page for the book