Dune and Philosophy: Minds, Monads, and Muad'Dib

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