The Virtues of Captain America : Modern-Day Lessons on Character from a World War II Superhero

Content: Introduction vii    Acknowledgments xiii    Notes on Source Material xiv    About the Author xvi    1 Superhuman Ethics Class 1    Utilitarianism 2    Deontology 6    A Civil War     of Ethics! 10    Virtue Ethics 13    Virtuous Deontology     No, Deontological Virtue     Maybe    Deontovirtue   ? 18    2 Captain America as a Moral Exemplar 25    Can a Fictional Character Be a Moral Exemplar? 26    Aren   t Fictional Characters Liable to Be Perfect? 29    Fifty Years, Dozens of Writers     One Captain America? 34    3 Five Basic Virtues 45    Courage 46    Humility 50    Righteous Indignation 54    Sacrifice and Responsibility 58    Perseverance 63    4 Honor and Integrity 76    The Honor of Captain America 76    External Honor as Respect 78    Internal Honor as Integrity 85    Principle and Compromise 88    Duty and Sacrifice (Again) 96    5 Judgment 109    Making the Hard Decisions 110    Whose Right Answer? 115    Tragic Dilemmas and How to Avoid Them 118       Black-and-White    or Red, White, and Blue?    When Judgment Evolves 122    Hitting the Threshold 131    6 Principle and Politics 143    Patriotism: The Captain and America 143    Cosmopolitanism 146    The American Dream Versus the American Reality 150       I   m a Hero, Not a Politician!    153    Principle over Politics 156    Captain America in (Principled) Action 161    Secret Empire/Nomad 161    The Captain 163    Civil War 166    7 Can Captain America Help Us Achieve Greater Unity and Civility? 178    The    Divided States of America,    Then and Now 178    The Three Core American Ideals 181    Justice 182    Equality 184    Liberty 186    Debating What We Disagree On While Recognizing What We Share 188    Now It   s Our Turn 193    Appendix: Why Are There Seven Volumes of Captain America and Five Volumes of Avengers? 198    References 202    Index 221