Spider-Man and Philosophy: The Web of Inquiry

Spider-Man and Philosophy: The Web of Inquiry
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: The Spectacular Life of Spider-Man?
	1: Does Peter Parker Have a Good Life?
		Paul Kurtz—A Life of Pleasure and Care for Others
		Ayn Rand—Life and Integrity
		Epictetus—Self-Control, Duty, and Knowledge of the World
		Viktor Frankl—Meaning and Sacrifice
		Thomas Aquinas—God and Virtue
		What Next?
		Notes
	2: What Price Atonement? Peter Parker and the Infinite Debt
		Death and Taxes
		Ethics and the Infinite
		Every Other Is Wholly Other
		Remaining in Debt
		Notes
	3: \"My Name is Peter Parker\": Unmasking the Right and the Good
		To Unmask or Not to Unmask
		The Irresistible Iron Man
		But on the Other Hand . . .
		The Tangled Web That Is Consequentialism
		Oops!
		Remember the Kingpin?
		Give Up? Never!
		Notes
Part Two: Responsibility-Man
	4: \"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility\": Spider-Man, Christian Ethics, and the Problem of Evil
		\"I Have Called You Friends\": The Christian Answer to Why People Were Created
		\"Can\'t You Respect Me Enough to Let Me Make My Own Decisions?\": The Foundations of Christian Ethics
		\"We Always Have a Choice\": The Solution to the Problem of Evil
		Dealing with Venom: How to Perfect or Pervert Justice
		\"It\'s the Choices That Make Us Who We Are:\" The Conclusion to the Matter
		Notes
	5: Does Great Power Bring Great Responsibility? Spider-Man and the Good Samaritan
		Responsibility Does as Responsibility Is
		Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Does Whatever a Samaritan Can
		Your Friendly Neighborhood Samaritan
		The Do\'s and Don\'ts of Duties
		Unmasking the Bad Samaritan
		Spider-Man: Hero or Menace?
		How Great Is That?
		Notes
	6: With Great Power Comes Great Culpability: How Blameworthy Is Spider-Man for Uncle Ben\'s Death?
		Peter Parker\'s Good and Bad Luck
		The Web of Moral Luck
		The Two Peter Parkers
		The Problem with Moral Luck
		Peter Parker: Agent of Regret
		Aunt May\'s Dark Secret
		Power and Responsibility
		Notes
Part Three: Spider-Sense and the Self
	7: Why Is My Spider-Sense Tingling?
		Getting the Sense of Things, Directly
		What Danger Looks Like
		The Relative Nature of Danger
		Is It Really Dangerous?
		When the Spider-Sense Fails
		Spider-Sense, Spider-Judgment, or Both?
		Did We Learn Anything?
		Notes
	8: Red or Black: Perception, Identity, and Self
		A Hero Transformed
		Selves Transformed
		The Transforming Self
		Notes
	9: With Great Power: Heroism, Villainy, and Bodily Transformation
		Changing the World
		Transformation, Virtue, and Vice
		Great Responsibility
		A Story about a Girl
		Notes
Part Four: Arachnids \"R\" Us: Technology and the Human, all too Human
	10: Transhumanism: Or, Is It Right to Make a Spider-Man?
		Enhancement Anxieties
		Like a God among Men
		A Lucky Guy
		A Strange Liberation Movement
		Equality and Biology
		Enhancing People and Creating Monsters
		Creating MJ\'s Smile
		Notes
	11: Maximum Clonage: What the Clone Saga Can Teach Us about Human Cloning
		Gwen Stacy Is Alive . . . and, Well . . . ?!
		The Shattering Secret of Cloning
		The Game of Life—What the Saga Gets Wrong (and Right) about Cloning
		The Worth of a Clone
		Game\'s End
		Notes
Part Five: Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
	12: Justice versus Romantic Love: Can Spider-Man Champion Justice and Be with Mary Jane at the Same Time?
		The Primacy of Justice
		The Primacy of the Romantic
		Romantic Justice or Just Romantic
	13: Love, Friendship, and Being Spider-Man
		A Fine Fellow
		Sacrificial Love
		MJ Hearts Spider-Man
		Some Friend You Are! You Stole My Girl! Killed My Father!
		Sacrificing Superheroes
		Notes
	14: Spidey\'s Tangled Web of Obligations: Fighting Friends and Dependents Gone Bad
		Spinning a Web of Deceit
		The Alien Symbiote—Not Your Typical Pile of Dirty Laundry
		Here Come the Bad Guys!
		Fighting Friends Gone Bad
		Lending a Hand—Or Some Webbing
		Notes
Part Six: The Amazing Speaking Spider: Jokes, Stories, and the Choices We Make
	15: The Quipslinger: The Morality of Spider-Man\'s Jokes
		What\'s So Funny, Webhead?
		Joke\'s on You, Bad Guy!
		Professor Spidey and the Bad Guys
		Spidey Corrects Heroes
		The Punch Line
		Notes
	16: The Sound and the Fury behind \"One More Day\"
		Do We Lack Character?
		Enough about Normal People—What about Superheroes?
		So, Who\'s Responsible for This Outrage?
		Secret Interpretation
		What If You Had One More Day?
		Notes
	17: Spider-Man and the Importance of Getting Your Story Straight
		Do We Always Have a Choice?
		What Storytelling Is All About
		Not Every Action That Glitters Is Virtuous
		The Virtue of Spider-Man\'s Story
		Notes
Contributors
Index