Book Review

Batman and Philosophy
The Dark knight of the soul

Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series

I found this book at the University library a while back while Adam and I were tooling around one night. (The library lets me check out books for six months at a time, which might be a little too convenient...) It sounds like the Blackwell Series of books tries to make philosophy accessible to the lay reader, by making comparisons to fictional environments and settings. Does anyone else besides me think this is hilarious. "We aren't sure how to explain philosophy's impact in your life, so we'll stick to talking about Batman." Or something like that.

After reading the book, I actually find parts of their approach oddly effective. I didn't go near philosophy in college, I still recognized a number of philosophers they talked about for some reason.

I guess the fact that the world of Batman is something many people have in common makes it easier to relate to the things the authors are talking about. I don't agree with some of what they said, but I understood for the most part what they were talking about. Interesting stuff. (Ethics, Who is the Batman, Being Batman, The roles of the Bat, that sort of thing.) In the end, it turned out to be a good introduction the the world of Philosophy.

The book is divided up into 12 to 15 page essays, by people from all over, on differing topics. They all seem to have a firm grasp from what I could tell on both the world of Philosophy and the world of Batman. Because they were essays, it is easy to pick the book up, read a couple, then come back to it whenever. I read a third of it on the plane today, between naps...

The Blackwell Series has books in all kinds of topics, lots from TV or movies. I might someday go try the "Heroes and Philosophy" or the "X-Men and Philosophy" books, but not right now, I need a break from it...