The Comics Professor

Call for abstracts: Wonder Woman and Philosophy

I just realized I never posted this call for abstracts for what is a long-overdue and much-needed book. My abstract is in, and if you're a philosopher who's also a Wonder Woman fan, you should submit one too. (The deadline is February 1!)

 

Call for Abstracts

 

Wonder Woman and Philosophy

 

Edited by Jacob M. Held

 The Blackwell Philosophy and Popular Culture Series

 

To propose ideas for future volumes in the Blackwell series please contact the Series Editor, William Irwin, at [email protected]

 

If you have comments or criticisms for the series, please contact the series editor after reading “Fancy Taking a Pop?” and  “Writing for the Reader: A Defense of Philosophy and Popular Culture Books”

 

Abstracts and subsequent essays should be philosophically substantial but accessible, written to engage the intelligent lay reader. Contributors of accepted essays will receive an honorarium.

 

Possible themes and topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:

Man’s World vs. Themyscira: Wonder Woman as feminist icon; Is Wonder Woman a feminist; Amazons, nature, domination and ecofeminism; God vs. Goddess of War: War and Peace studies; Does Wonder Woman have to be so sexy? Gender, Empowerment, and DC Comics; Wonder Woman as Archetype? Beauvoir, Butler, and Gender; Kant and the Lasso of Truth; Truth telling and Deception; Are these Gods worth worshipping: Zeus, Ares, Piety and the Nature of Faith, Religious Devotion; Pantheons, Religion, and Reason; WWWWD: Can Wonder Woman be a role model; Which Wonder Woman is the real Wonder Woman: Infinite Earths, Personal Identity, and Possible Worlds; Narrative and Personal Identity, Or That’s not the True Wonder Woman (Golden age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and the New 52); Origin Stories and Identity;  Could we/Should we create Wonder Women: Amazonians as Transhumanists; The Killing of Maxwell Lord: Killing and Self-Defense; Cat Fights: Cheetah vs. Wonder Woman, Must the villain be female; Eroticism in literature: The Aesthetics of Women in Graphic Novels; Is the Justice League a hostile work environment: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman; Gifts from the Gods and Moral Luck; Natural gifts and superiority: Are all of us truly equal;  Wonder Woman and Nietzsche: Ubermädchen?; Does Wonder Woman have an obligation to help: Altruism, Egoism, Wonder Woman Shrugged?; Ethics of Care and Wonder Woman; Propaganda, Art, and Wonder Woman: From WWII to today; Marston’s vision of women and men, and the crafting of a heroine; Can Blind Wonder Woman be in the Justice League? Disability studies and superheroes; Adaptations and Integrity: Lynda Carter is/is not Wonder Woman; Wonder Woman as the Secretary of the Justice League, and Diana Prince the Nurse, Secretary…: Can Wonder Woman Shatter the Glass Ceiling?

 

Submission Guidelines:

1. Submission deadline for abstracts (100-500 words) and CVs: February 1, 2016.

2. Submission deadline for drafts of accepted papers: June 1, 2016.

 

Kindly submit by e-mail (with or without Word attachment) to: [email protected]

Grant Morrison tells a story of Nazi Superman—and so does Superman and Philosophy!

As Zap2It reported early this morning, part of Grant Morrison's sprawling DC Comics series Multiversity will tell the story of a stranger from another planet landing in Nazi Germany rather than Smallville, Kansas:

"Imagine you're Superman and for the first 25 [years] of your life you were working for Hitler," Morrison says, "And then you realize, 'Oh my god, it's Hitler!'" Morrison further explains, "Not only is he a Nazi Superman, he's a Nazi Superman that knows his entire society, though it looks utopian, was built on the bones of the dead. Ultimately it's wrong and it must be destroyed." The issue will see the caped hero going up against enemies he knows are right, as he comes to terms with the fact that the principles he was raised with are wrong.

As it happens, Robert Sharp explored this possibility in his chapter "Could Superman Have Joined the Third Reich? The Importance and Shortcomings of Moral Upbringing" in Superman and Philosophy: What Would the Man of Steel Do?. His tale starts like so:

It’s 1926, and on a small farm with a few fields of wheat, a meteorite has just charred its way through a good bit of the crop. The farmer who owns the land is dismayed. His life has been hard since the Great War, even though prices for his food have skyrocketed, at least in terms of the actual bills carried around. In fact, one of his neighbors joked that he needed a wheelbarrow to carry around the cash to buy a loaf of bread, given how worthless the money had become. He and his wife are barely scraping by. Perhaps it is just as well that they had not been able to have children. Where would they find the money? His wife is fond of saying, “God will provide,” but sometimes he has doubts. And now a large part of his best field has been destroyed by a rock from space!

    As the farmer heads toward the damaged area, he calls back to his wife to bring a shovel in case there are any scattered fires to smother. He can see the hot smoke from the house, though the meteor itself is buried. His wife is almost half way to him when he reaches the crater, his eyes widening. “Magda!” he shouts, with a mixture of awe and anxiety, “Magda, bring a blanket! There is … a child!” The words seemed distant from him, as though said by someone else. His wife, believing she has misheard, runs toward him, shovel in hand.

    “Jonas? What is it? What is wrong?” she asks, her hands trembling. As she nears her husband she can see him, just emerging from some sort of space pod—a small boy! A gift from God! Her prayers are finally answered. Here in the German heartland, a miracle occurs, one that will soon have profound consequences for the world at large. The small child that had landed on Jonas and Magda Kuhn’s farm was the Übermensch himself, a “super man.” The Übermensch would vindicate Hitler’s claim that the New World Order would arise in Germany and prove that nation’s superiority.

    Only three years later, young Karl Kuhn, as he was named in the adoption papers, would join the Hitler Youth. Indoctrinated into the cause, his character was formed by the Nazi Party. He never knew any other life, and when the war finally came, Hitler used his young prodigy as the ultimate super-weapon. The war was over before it had begun, as the Allies had no counter to such raw power. A farm boy from the middle of nowhere had helped the Nazis take over the world.

"...Or Not" is the title of the following section, and through the rest of the chapter Sharp explains the different ways this story could go and how moral character and develop influence it. (See also the four other chapters in the book on Superman and Nietzsche for more on the Übermensch—and why the true Übermensch may be named Lex.)

As countless others do, I look forward to seeing Grant Morrison's version of this "what if" story in Multiversity—and in the meantime, be sure to pick up Superman and Philosophy!

Superman and Philosophy: First chapter available for free

While preparing my nearly-monthly update to my personal blog, I noticed that Wiley has made my Superman and Philosophy chapter, "Moral Judgment: The Power That Makes Superman Human," available for free at its website.

In this chapter, I explain how Superman's powers don't make him immune to the need to make difficult moral choices that can't be solved by simple rules (much less super-strength). For examples, the chapter draws Superman's execution of three Kryptonians villains (including an alternate version of General Zod), which led to his self-imposed exile from Earth, as well as his more recent walk across America in the "Grounded" storyline (which I discussed previously here and here).

Superman and Philosophy cover and table of contents

It's been a long wait--for me, at least!--but the cover to Superman and Philosophy is finally available (and visible to your right). As I said on my personal blog after I first saw it, I love how it parallels the Batman and Philosophy cover in general layout and title font, since the two volumes bookend my tenure with the series to date.

Here is the table of contents--I'll share more about the book as publication approaches!

Part One 
The Big Blue Boy Scout: Ethics, Judgment, and Reason

1 Moral Judgment: The Power That Makes Superman Human
Mark D. White

2 Action Comics! Superman and Practical Reason
Brian Feltham

3 Can the Man of Tomorrow Be the Journalist of Today?
Jason Southworth and Ruth Tallman

4 Could Superman Have Joined the Third Reich? The Importance and Shortcomings of Moral Upbringing
Robert Sharp

Part Two
Truth, Justice, and American Way: What Do They Mean?

5 Clark Kent Is Superman! The Ethics of Secrecy
Daniel Malloy

6 Superman and Justice
Christopher Robichaud

7 Is Superman an American Icon?
Andrew Terjesen

Part Three
The Will to Superpower: Nietzsche, the Übermensch, and Existentialism

8 Rediscovering Nietzsche’s Übermensch in Superman as a Heroic Ideal
Arno Bogaerts

9 Superman or Last Man: The Ethics of Superpower
David Gadon

10 Superman: From Anti-Christ to Christ-Type
Adam Barkman

11 Superman Must Be Destroyed! Lex Luthor as Existentialist Anti-Hero
Sarah Donovan and Nick Richardson

Part Four
The Ultimate Hero: What Do We Expect from Superman?

12 Superman’s Revelation: The Problem of Violence in Kingdom Come
David Hatfield

13 A World Without a Clark Kent?
Randall M. Jensen

14 The Weight of the World: How Much Is Superman Morally Responsible For?
Audrey L. Anton

Part Five
Superman and Humanity: A Match Made in Krypton?

15 Superman and Man: What a Kryptonian Can Teach Us About Humanity
Leonard Finkelman

16 Can the Man of Steel Feel Our Pain? Sympathy and Superman
Andrew Terjesen

17 World’s Finest Philosophers: Superman and Batman on Human Nature
Carsten Fogh Nielsen

Part Six
Of Superman and Superminds: Who Is Superman, Anyway?

18 “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s … Clark Kent?” Superman and the Problem of Identity
Nicolas Michaud

19 Superman Family Resemblance
Dennis Knepp

20 Why Superman Should Not Be Able to Read Minds
Mahesh Ananth

What do chocolate and radishes have to do with Green Lantern?

At The Atlantic today, Hans Villarica interviews Dr. Roy Baumeister, one of the psychologists chiefly responsible for the ego-depletion or "muscle" theory of willpower. Under this conception, people have a limited amount of willpower at any given time; as they use it, it is depleted in the short term but strengthened in the long term (just like a muscle used in work or resistance training). In the interview, Baumeister describes one of his early experiments in which he tempted people with chocolate while asking them to eat radishes instead; this used some of their reserves of willpower, leaving less for other tasks, compared to the control group who got to eat the chocolate.

In addition to informing my academic work on willpower and character, Baumeister's work was the basis for one of my chapters in Green Lantern and Philosophy: No Evil Shall Escape this Book. In chapter 2, "Flexing the Mental Muscle: Green Lanterns and the Nature of Willpower," I draw from years of stories to show that Lanterns' willpower has long been portrayed as a scarce resource. Below, I list some of the quotes I used in the chapter, showing that the version of willpower used in the Green Lantern stories corresponds with Baumeister's work--some even decades before Baumeister and his colleagues published it!

On willpower as a muscle:

"Your mind is like a muscle unused for years. You forgot how to use the power ring." (Sinestro to Hal Jordan, Green Lantern: Rebirth #5, April 2005)

"...the will is very like a muscle. In Abin Sur, that muscle was once extraordinarily strong—so strong that the Guardians of the Universe made him custodian of a battery of power, an amplifier of the will... and of a power ring, a device to focus that amplified will." (Action Comics Weekly #642, June 1989)

On willpower as a scarce resource (which can be replenished):

"[That] took lots of willpower. That—and escaping from the energy net—has left me exhausted. I need to regain my strength." (Action Comics Weekly #625, December 1988)

"I know my ring’s got limitless power—but it is powered by my willpower. Have I got the strength necessary to make this work?" (Green Lantern, vol. 2, #149, February 1982)

"Willpower’s like a muscle, and I’ve gotten better with it year after year!" (Green Lantern, vol. 2, #200, May 1986)

On willpower, focus, and distraction:

"Can’t take much more of this. I’ve been up all night trying to find the alien... . I’m exhausted... keeping this building together is taking all my concentration... all my will!" (Action Comics Weekly #628, January 1989)

"Finding it hard to concentrate, aren’t you? With me hitting you, I mean! And unless you can focus your willpower, your ring can’t work!" (Hal to Sinestro, Green Lantern, vol. 2, #124, January 1980)

For more on Baumeister's work, pick up his latest book (cowritten with John Tierney), cunningly titled Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.

Torture Comics: The New Avengers Cross the Line

Ah, comics.

The other day I was chatting about New Avengers #22 with with my friend Christine of the fantastic Daredevil blog The Other Murdock Papers. I mentioned how how out-of-character it seemed that Daredevil would exclaim "Toss her!" when the New Avengers are trying to extract information from Victoria Hand. (Remember that New Avengers scribe Brian Michael Bendis wrote a lengthy and highly acclaimed run on Daredevil.) Wolverine does in fact toss her--out the window--after which the non-powered Hand falls at least a dozen stories onto a car below.

My concerns about characterization--at least in terms of dialogue--were somewhat alleviated, however, when the whole affair was revealed to be an magical illusion shown to Hand by Dr. Strange in order to get the desired information. Christine was appalled, nonetheless, that Matt (along with the rest of the team) simply stood and watched while Dr. Strange tortured Ms. Hand. (At least Matt exclaims "God!" as she screamed in agony. I wonder, is that better than Grant Morrison having Superman exclaiming "GD" in a recent issue of Action Comics? Judges?) Strange's spell is even called "The Death Illusion Spell on the Shadow," lest there be any doubt regarding its intended effect.

Here we go again, kids! I still remember vividly the controversy over the torture of supervillains at the hands of Ray Palmer, Hal Jordan, and (yes) Oliver Queen during Justice League: Cry for Freedom several years ago. (See issues 3 and 4 in particular for some good dialogue on the topic.) I even addressed the torture debate in an op-ed I coauthored drawing a parallel with the issue of whether Batman should kill the Joker, based on the first chapter of Batman and Philosophy (and itself a topic recently revisited by Comics Alliance). 

Are Dr. Strange's actions any different because they were the result of an illusion, a magical spell, rather than actually tossing her out of the window? Clearly not: in the legal/political sense, torture is usually defined as inflicting physical or mental suffering for the express purpose of obtaining information. (Ssee, for instance, Jeremy Waldron's book Torture, Terror, and Trade-Offs, pp. 191-4, in which he surveys the various prohibitions of torture in official government documents around the world.) The whole point of waterboarding, after all, to make people think they are drowning, not actually drown them. Just because Strange has the ability to make Ms. Hand think she is dying without actually threatening her life doesn't make her subjective experience any less horrible--or any less torturous.

So it was torture--but was it justified? When it comes to the use of torture, someone people say no categorically, and others would allow for some exceptions, such as "ticking time-bomb scenarios." Let's say we grant exceptions in such rare emergencies: does the situation faced by the New Avengers qualify? In what seems like the start of a new Dark Reign, Norman Osborn has once again put together his own faux Avengers team and has masterfully manipulated public sentiment and the media against the Avengers (both Steve Roger's A-team and the New Avengers). They suspect Ms. Hand--the team's liaison with Rogers--is also working for her old H.A.M.M.E.R. boss, and they want her to lead them to him.

Osborn is bad news, of course, but does this represent a "ticking time-bomb," a threat so severe and immediate that (to some people) it justifies nearly any means taken to prevent it, including torture? It's a judgment call, of course, but I hardly think so, unless they uncover evidence indicating immediate and catastrophic plans of Osborn's. As of yet, however, all they know is that he's made them look like chumps--and they certainly aren't helping themselves either.

Of course, Mockingbird clocked Hand before Strange put the whammy on her--and Daredevil himself has certainly used his fists to empty many a bar of lowlifes when trying to get information on a case. Maybe it's just because, as comics fans, we're used to seeing heroes beat up bad guys, but we usualy don't think of this as torture--though, when a real life police officer or detective does it, we take it more seriously. Victoria Hand is an experienced and trained former S.H.I.E.L.D. and H.A.M.M.E.R. agent; she probably wouldn't crack merely from being beaten up. She didn't crack under Dr. Strange's spell either--but was he justified in using it in the first place?

I don't think so. Do you?

-----

By the way, Christopher Robichaud touches on the torture issue in his chapter "Fighting the Good Fight: Military Ethics and the Kree-Skrull War," in The Avengers and Philosophy: Earth's Mightiest Thinkers, now available for pre-order.

First chapter of The Avengers and Philosophy available for free download

Thanks to Mitters' tumblr, I discovered that there are three samples from The Avengers and Philosophy: Earth's Mightiest Thinkers available at Wiley's site for the book: the table of contents, the index (in case you're curious who's included in the book--I'm happy to say most everybody!), and best of all, the first chapter, written by yours truly.

Titled "Superhuman Ethics Class with the Avengers Prime," it introduces the three basic schools of ethics--utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics--using Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor (respectively), and the conflicts between them, as examples. (The title comes from Avengers Academy, as I discuss here and here.)

Download it and let me know what you think, and don't forget to preorder the book, which comnes out in May!

New chapters on Captain America and Thor exclusive to free "Superheroes" Kindle book

Wiley just released their free Kindle book, Superheroes: The Best of Philosophy and Pop Culture, featuring one chapter from each of the superhero-themed books in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, including the forthcoming titles on Superman and the Avengers, as well as two new and exclusive chapters, written by yours truly, on Captain America and Thor.

Here are the contents:

PART ONE: Superheroes Exclusives

1: Lord Odin Have Mercy: Justice and Punishment in Asgard—Mark D. White

2: Captain America and the Virtue of Modesty—Mark D. White

PART TWO: DC Superheroes

3: Is Superman an American Icon?—Andrew Terjesen (from Superman and Philosophy—edited by Mark D. White)

4: The Blackest Night for Aristotle’s Account of Emotions—Jason Southworth (from Green Lantern and Philosophy— edited by Jane Dryden and Mark D. White)

5: Why Doesn’t Batman Kill the Joker? —Mark D. White (from Batman and Philosophy, edited by Mark D. White and Robert Arp)

6: Can We Steer This Rudderless World? Kant, Rorschach, Retributivism, and Honor—Jacob M. Held (from Watchmen and Philosophy, edited by Mark D. White)

PART THREE: Marvel Superheroes

7: Forgivers Assemble! —Daniel P. Malloy (from Avengers and Philosophy, edited by Mark D. White)

8: Does Peter Parker Have a Good Life? —Neil Mussett (from Spider-Man and Philosophy, edited by Jonathan J. Sanford)

9: The Stark Madness of Technology—George A. Dunn (from Iron Man and Philosophy, edited by Mark D. White)

10: Amnesia, Personal Identity, and the Many Lives of Wolverine—Jason Southworth (from X-Men and Philosophy, edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski)

If an economist had written All-Star Superman...

This is great: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal takes an extremely practical approach to the life of Superman, part of it resembling Mahesh Ananth and Ben Dixon's chapter titled "Should Bruce Wayne Have Become Batman?" from Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul (questioning whether superheroics are the morally best use of Bruce Wayne's wealth and time). 

Interview about Green Lantern and Philosophy at Hero Complex/L.A. Times

The interview I did with my co-editor Jane Dryden about Green Lantern and Philosophy: No Evil Shall Escape this Book just appeared at the Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex blog. (It also includes a shameless plug for another new book of mine, Kantian Ethics and Economics: Autonomy, Dignity, and Character.) Thanks to Jevon Phillips for the great questions, and be sure to let me know what you think!