The Undead and Philosophy Chicken Soup for the Soulless

by Greene, Richard; Mohammad, K. Silem

• ISBN13: 9780812696011
• ISBN10: 0812696018
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-29
• Publisher: Open Court

Summary

In good time for Halloween 2006, philosophers have sunk their teeth into thisuicy topic. "The Undead" encompasses standard zombies and vampires, but alsoeorge Romero's radiation-spawned "Living Dead" and the "infected" of "28ays Later". They're all here, and they all provide useful raw material forhilosophical speculation.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
(Un)dead (Un)certainties	xiii
Part I It's Alive (Sort Of)	1	(66)
The Badness of Undeath	3	(12)
Richard Greene
Res Corporealis: Persons, Bodies, and Zombies	15	(12)
William S. Larkin
``She's Not Your Mother Anymore, She's a Zombie!'': Zombies, Value, and Personal Identity	27	(12)
Hamish Thompson
Dead Serious: Evil and the Ontology of the Undead	39	(14)
Manuel Vargas
Zombies, Blade Runner, and the Mind-Body Problem	53	(14)
Larry Hauser
Part II Undead White Males	67	(36)
Heidegger the Vampire Slayer: The Undead and Fundamental Ontology	69	(12)
Adam Barrows
When There's No More Room in Hell, the Dead Will Shop the Earth Romero and Aristotle on Zombies, Happiness, and Consumption	81	(10)
Matthew Walker
Zombies, Rest and Motion: Spinoza and the Speed of Undeath	91	(12)
K. Silem Mohammad
Part III Dirty Rotting Scoundrels	103	(64)
Zombie Gladiators	105	(14)
Dale Jacquette
Should Vampires Be Held Accountable for Their Bloodthirsty Behavior?	119	(10)
John Draeger
The Bloody Connection Between Vampires and Vegetarians	129	(14)
Wayne Yuen
Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't: Vampires and the Hedonistic Paradox	143	(12)
Robert Arp
Deserving to Be a Vampire: The Ethical and Existential Elements of Vampirism	155	(12)
Ted M. Preston
Part IV Digging Up the Body Politic	167	(54)
The Political Economy of Non-Coercive Vampire Lifestyles	169	(14)
Douglas Glen Whitman
Rousseau and the Vampires: Toward a Political Philosophy of the Undead	183	(14)
Phillip Cole
The Undead Martyr: Sex, Death, and Revolution in George Romero's Zombie Films	197	(14)
Simon Clark
When They Aren't Eating Us, They Bring Us Together: Zombies and the American Social Contract	211	(10)
Leah A. Murray
Part V Leaving a Good-Looking Corpse	221	(28)
The Fear of Fear Itself: The Philosophy of Halloween	223	(14)
Noel Carroll
``Powerful, Beautiful, and Without Regret'': Femininity, Masculinity, and the Vampire Aesthetic	237	(12)
Joan Grassbaugh Forry
Philosophers by Day . . .	249	(4)
Index of Rigor Mortis	253