Howard 16 Batman's Confrontation with Death, Angst, and Freedom 212 David M. Drohan 15 Dark Nights and the Call of Conscience 198 Jason J. Richardson 11 Could Batman Have Been the Joker? 142 Sam Cowling and Chris Ragg 12 Batman's Identity Crisis and Wittgenstein's Family Resemblance 156 Jason Southworth 13 What Is It Like to Be a Batman? 167 Ron Novy PART FIVE BEING THE BAT: INSIGHTS FROM EXISTENTIALISM AND TAOISM 14 Alfred, the Dark Knight of Faith: Batman and Kierkegaard 183 Christopher M. Jensen 8 Should Bruce Wayne Have Become Batman? 101 Mahesh Ananth and Ben Dixon 9 What Would Batman Do? Bruce Wayne as Moral Exemplar 114 Ryan Indy Rhodes and David Kyle Johnson PART FOUR WHO IS THE BATMAN? (IS THAT A TRICK QUESTION?) 10 Under the Mask: How Any Person Can Become Batman 129 Sarah K. White 2 Is It Right to Make a Robin? 17 James DiGiovanna 3 Batman's Virtuous Hatred 28 Stephen Kershnar PART TWO LAW, JUSTICE, AN D THE SOCIAL ORDER: WHERE DOES BATMAN FIT IN? 4 No Man's Land : Social Order in Gotham City and New Orleans 41 Brett Chandler Patterson 5 Governing Gotham 55 Tony Spanakos 6 The Joker's Wild: Can We Hold the Clown Prince Morally Responsible? 70 Christopher Robichaud PART THREE ORIGINS AND ETHICS: BECOMING THE CAPED CRUSADER 7 Batman's Promise 85 Randall M. 1 PART ONE DOES THE DARK KNIGHT ALWAYS DO RIGHT? 1 Why Doesn't Batman Kill the Joker? 5 Mark D. (July) ( Publishers Weekly, July 28, 2008)ĪCKNOWLEDGMENTS: The Oscar Speech George Clooney Never Got to Make ix Introduction: Riddle Me This. Unfortunately, most of these essays get old fast. Drohan actually gets close to the archetypal sources that keep the serialized exploits of Batman and other comic heroes from getting stale. A few contributions broaden the discussion beyond the well-worn (origin stories of Batman and foes, etc.) casting butler Alfred as Kierkegaard's 'knight of faith' to Batman's 'knight of infinite resignation,' contributor Christopher M. ), editors White and Arp assert upfront, and without qualification (apparently, that's the contributors' job), their belief that Batman is 'the most complex character ever to appear in comic books and graphic novels.' Exploring certain works that have broadened the philosophical undercurrents of the Batman mythos (Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns are cited often, but rarely the new movies), a raft of professors, students and PhD candidates paint Bruce Wayne's choices as, most often, either utilitarian or deontological, with basic descriptions of these systems helpfully provided for the novice. In this, the latest in Wiley's Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series ( South Park and Philosophy, The Office and.

Batman and Philosophy by Mark D. White