Alien and Philosophy: I Infest, Therefore I Am PDF
Preview Alien and Philosophy: I Infest, Therefore I Am
ALIEN AND PHILOSOPHY The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series Series editor William Irwin A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, and a healthy helping of popular culture clears the cobwebs from Kant. Philosophy has had a public relations problem for a few centuries now. This series aims to change that, showing that phi- losophy is relevant to your life – and not just for answering the big questions like “To be or not to be?” but for answering the little questions: “To watch or not to watch South Park?” Thinking deeply about TV, movies, and music doesn’t make you a “complete idiot.” In fact it might make you a philosopher, someone who believes the unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined cartoon is not worth watching. Already published in the series: 24 and Philosophy: The World According to Jack Inception and Philosophy: Because It’s Never Just a Dream Edited by Jennifer Hart Weed, Richard Brian Davis, Edited by David Johnson and Ronald Weed Iron Man and Philosophy: Facing the Stark Reality 30 Rock and Philosophy: We Want to Go to There Edited by Mark D. White Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Lost and Philosophy: The Island Has Its Reasons Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Edited by Sharon M. Kaye Curiouser Mad Men and Philosophy: Nothing Is as It Seems Edited by Richard Brian Davis Edited by James South and Rod Carveth Arrested Development and Philosophy: They’ve Made Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery a Huge Mistake Edited by William Irwin Edited by Kristopher Phillips and J. Jeremy Wisnewski The Office and Philosophy: Scenes from the Unfinished Life Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Edited by George A. Dunn Sons of Anarchy and Philosophy: Brains Before Bullets The Avengers and Philosophy: Earth’s Mightiest Thinkers Edited by George A. Dunn and Jason T. Eberl Edited by Mark D. White South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul Something Today Edited by Mark D. White and Robert Arp Edited by Robert Arp Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Knowledge Here Spider‐Man and Philosophy: The Web of Inquiry Begins Out There Edited by Jonathan Sanford Edited by Jason T. Eberl Superman and Philosophy: What Would the Man of The Big Bang Theory and Philosophy: Rock, Paper, Steel Do? Scissors, Aristotle, Locke Edited by Mark D. White Edited by Dean Kowalski The Big Lebowski and Philosophy: Keeping Your Mind Supernatural and Philosophy: Metaphysics and Limber with Abiding Wisdom Monsters…for Idjits Edited by Peter S. Fosl Edited by Galen Foresman BioShock and Philosophy: Irrational Game, Rational Book Terminator and Philosophy: I’ll Be Back, Therefore I Am Edited by Luke Cuddy Edited by Richard Brown and Kevin Decker Black Sabbath and Philosophy: Mastering Reality True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Edited by William Irwin Things with You The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments of Zen in the Edited by George Dunn and Rebecca Housel Art of Fake News Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Edited by Jason Holt Pursuit of Immortality Downton Abbey and Philosophy: The Truth Is Neither Edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski Here Nor There The Ultimate Daily Show and Philosophy: More Edited by Mark D. White Moments of Zen, More Moments of Indecision Theory Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy: Read and Gain Edited by Jason Holt Advantage on All Wisdom Checks The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts Edited by Christopher Robichaud for Muggles Ender’s Game and Philosophy: The Logic Gate is Down Edited by Gregory Bassham Edited by Kevin S. Decker The Ultimate Lost and Philosophy: Think Together, Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded Die Alone Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Edited by Sharon Kaye Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough The Ultimate South Park and Philosophy: Respect Edited by Jason P. Blahuta and Michel S. Beaulieu My Philosophah! Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper Edited by Robert Arp and Kevin S. Decker Than Swords The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy: You Must Edited by Henry Jacoby Unlearn What You Have Learned The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Philosophy: Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker Everything is Fire The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy: The Search Edited by Eric Bronson for Socrates Green Lantern and Philosophy: No Evil Shall Escape Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker this Book The Walking Dead and Philosophy: Shotgun. Edited by Jane Dryden and Mark D. White Machete. Reason. Heroes and Philosophy: Buy the Book, Save the World Edited by Christopher Robichaud Edited by David Kyle Johnson Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test The Hobbit and Philosophy: For When You’ve Lost Your Edited by Mark D. White Dwarves, Your Wizard, and Your Way Veronica Mars and Philosophy: Investigating the Edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson Mysteries of Life (Which is a Bitch House and Philosophy: Everybody Lies Until You Die) Edited by Henry Jacoby Edited by George A. Dunn House of Cards and Philosophy: Capitalism without X‐Men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Consumerism Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X‐Verse Edited by J. Edward Hackett Edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski The Hunger Games and Philosophy: A Critique Alien and Philosophy: I Infest, of Pure Treason Therefore I Am Edited by George Dunn and Nicolas Michaud Edited by Jeffrey Ewing and Kevin S. Decker ALIEN AND PHILOSOPHY I INFEST, THEREFORE I AM Edited by Jeffrey Ewing and Kevin S. Decker This edition first published 2017 © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. The right of Jeffrey Ewing and Kevin S. Decker to be identified as the authors of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with law. Registered Offices John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK Editorial Office 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, customer services, and more information about Wiley products visit us at www.wiley.com. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print‐on‐demand. Some content that appears in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty While the publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this work, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 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Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication data applied for Paperback ISBN: 9781119280811 Cover Image: © sololos / Getty Images Cover Design: Wiley Set in 10.5/13pt Sabon by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 In memory of Kathleen Ewing, shining light and amazing mother. You’re always in my heart, and thank you for everything, forever. — J.E. To Phil Neale, philosopher and alien. — K.S.D. Contents Contributors: In Space, No One Can Hear Them Scream x Introduction: A Word of Warning… 1 I Identity and Moral Considerability: “We Made You Because We Could” 5 1 “No Man Needs Nothing”: The Possibility of Androids as Lockean Persons in Alien and Prometheus 7 Chris Lay 2 Androids: Artificial Persons or Glorified Toasters? 17 Joe Slater 3 “All Other Priorities Are Rescinded”: The Moral Status of Employees in the Alien Franchise 25 James M. Okapal II Ethics: “I Don’t Know Which Species is Worse” 37 4 Disposable Assets: Weyland‐Yutani’s Special Brew of Business Ethics 39 Bruno de Brito Serra 5 Corporate Greed and Alien/ation: Marx vs. Weyland‐Yutani 48 Alejandro Bárcenas 6 The Public and its Alien Problem 55 David Denneny vii viii CONTENTS 7 Cross My Heart and Hope to Die: Why Ripley Must Save Newt 67 William A. Lindenmuth III Moral Psychology: “Unclouded by Conscience, Remorse, or Delusions of Mortality” 81 8 Nuking the Colony to Save It: Colonial Marines and Just Wars 83 Louis Melançon 9 Xenomorphs and the Benefits of Exposure to Violence as Education 93 Adam Barkman and Sabina Tokbergenova 10 Alien, Alienation, and Alien Nation 101 Daniel Conway IV Horror: “They Mostly Come at Night” 115 11 Terror from the Stars: Alien as Lovecraftian Horror 117 Greg Littmann 12 Art‐Horror Environments and the Alien Series 132 Martin Glick 13 Contagion: Impurity, Mental Illness, and Suicide in Alien3 140 Kevin S. Decker V Sex and Gender: “None of Them Have Seen a Woman in Years” 153 14 Ellen Ripley: The Rise of the Matriarch 155 Andrea Zanin 15 Is Ellen Ripley a Feminist? 166 Alexander Christian 16 Alien Violation: Male Bodily Integrity in an Equal Opportunity Rape Culture 178 Tim Jones CONTENTS ix VI Continental Philosophy: “I’m the Monster’s Mother” 187 17 The Alien as Übermensch: Overcoming Morality in Order to Become the Perfect Killer 189 Robert M. Mentyka 18 “Why Do You Go On Living?” Ripley‐8 and the Absurd 198 Seth M. Walker 19 God Save the Xenomorph Queen: Defending Xenomorph Self‐Defense 207 Jeffrey Ewing Index 216
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