Watchmen and Philosophy : A Rorschach Test

by Editor: William Irwin (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania ); Editor: Mark D. White

• ISBN13: 9780470730300
• ISBN10: 0470730307
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2009-05-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Alan Moore's Watchmen is set in 1985 and chronicles the alternative history of the United States where the US edges dangerously closer to nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Within this world exists a group of crime busters, who don elaborate costumes to conceal their identity and fight crime, and an intricate plot to kill and discredit these "superheroes." Alan Moore's Watchmen popularized the graphic novel format, has been named one of Time magazine's top 100 novels, and is now being made into a highly anticipated movie adaptation. This latest book in the popular Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series peers into Moore's deeply philosophical work to parse and deconstruct the ethical issues raised by Watchmen's costumed adventurers, their actions, and their world. From nuclear destruction to utopia, from governmental authority to human morality and social responsibility, it answers questions fans have had for years about Watchmen's ethical quandaries, themes, and characters.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements: They Left It Entirely in My Hands

Introduction: A Rorschach Test

The Politics Of Power: Who Watches The Watchmen?

The Superman Exists, and He's American: Morality in the Face of Absolute Power

Can We Steer This Rudderless World? Kant, Rorschach, Retributivism, and Honor

Super Vigilantes and the Keene Act

Superheroes and Supermen: Finding Nietzsche's Übermensch in Watchmen

The Veidt Plan: Watchmen And Ethics.

Means, Ends, and the Critique of Pure Superheroes

The Virtues of Nite Owl's Potbelly

Rorschach: When Telling the Truth Is Wrong

The Metaphysics Of Dr. Manhattan.

Dr. Manhattan, I Presume

Dr. Manhattan and Bergson's Theory of Simultaneous Time

Free Will and Foreknowledge: Does Jon Really Know What Laurie Will Do Next, and Can She Do Otherwise

I'm Just a Puppet Who Can See the Strings: Dr. Manhattan as a Stoic Sage

This Is Not Your Fathe'S Comic Book.

"Why Don't You Go Read a Book or Something": Watchmen As Literature

Watchwomen

Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis: The Ambiguously Gay Duo

What's So Goddamned Funny? The Comedian and Rorschach on Life's Way

Contributors: Who Writes About the Watchmen?

Index: After the Masquerade

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