Star Wars and Philosophy

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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 philosphy with real-world philosophy.

[edit] Back cover description

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.

[edit] Contents

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
• The Phantom Index

[edit] External links

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

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