Supernatural and Philosophy

Galen A. Foresman is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he teaches ethics and critical thinking. He is the author of “Why Batman Is Better than Superman” in Batman and Philosophy (Wiley, 2008) and "What’s Wrong with Camping?" in Halo and Philosophy (2011). William Irwin is Professor of Philosophy at King’s College. He originated the philosophy and popular culture genre of books as coeditor of the bestselling The Simpsons and Philosophy and has overseen recent titles including Superman and Philosophy, Black Sabbath and Philosophy, and Spider-Man and Philosophy.

• Acknowledgments viiIntroduction: Codename: GhostPhacers 1Part One Of Monsters and Morals 51 Are Monsters Members of the Moral Community? 7Nathan Stout2 Aristotle’s Metaphysics of Monsters and Why We Love Supernatural 16Galen A. Foresman and Francis Tobienne, Jr.3 Hunters, Warriors, Monsters 26Shannon B. Ford4 Team Free Will: Something Worth Fighting For 37Devon Fitzgerald Ralston and Carey F. ApplegatePart Two Life, Liberty, and the Apocalypse 475 What the Hell Is Going On? 49Galen A. Foresman6 Try Hell, It’s a Democracy and the Weather Is Warm 62Dena Hurst7 Hunting the American Dream: Why Marx Would Think It’s a Terrible Life 74Jillian L. Canode8 Mothers, Lovers, and Other Monsters: The Women of Supernatural 83Patricia Brace9 Night of the Living Dead Demons and a Life Worth Living 95John Edgar BrowningPart Three Evil by Design 10910 Dean Winchester and the Supernatural Problem of Evil 111Daniel Haas11 Angels and Atheists 125Fredrick Curry12 Oh God, You Devil 139Danilo ChaibPart Four It’s Supernatural 15113 Naturally Supernatural 153James Blackmon with Galen A. Foresman14 Masculinity and Supernatural Love 169Stacey Goguen15 Naturalizing Supernatural 179Joseph L. Graves, Jr.Contributors: Bona Fide, Card Carrying Wisdom Lovers and GhostPhacers 189Index 195

“Saying that, what is covered should be enough here for the ‘Supernatural’ fan to think about. Don’t get spooked.”  (SFCrowsnest.org.uk, 1 December 2013)“All in all, through reading this book, I realized philosophical and religious examinations are a lot more fun when they’re done side by side with the adventures of Sam and Dean Winchester rather than traditional sources.  The correlations make for a very good read. It will certainly change the way we fans see episodes both past and future.  Thanks to pop culture, philosophy just isn’t for scholars anymore.”  (The Winchester Family Business, 22 October 2013)