For this module we will go through Kevin Decker’s Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine. It is available via Open Library Review the chapter list below and choose 8 you would like to read. For each one do the following: Consider what the leading question of the essay is.   Combining your experience with your understanding of the material presented by the author of the article as well as any other properly cited resources answer that leading question. The word count for each of these lessons is 750 words.

  1. “You cannot escape your destiny” (Or Can You)
  2. Stoicism in the Stars: Yoda, the Emperor and the Force
  3. The Far East of Star Wars
  4. Moral Ambiguity in a Black-and-White Universe
  5. The Aspiring Jedi’s Handbook of Virtue
  6. A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy
  7. “Be Mindful of the Living Force”-Environmental Ethics in Star Wars
  8. Send in the Clones: The Ethics of Future Wars
  9. A Technological Galaxy: Heidegger and the Philosophy of Technology in Star Wars
  10. If Droids Could Think…Droids as Slaves and Persons
  11. Size Matters Not: The Force as the Casual Power of the Jedi
  12. The Force is With Us: Hegel’s Philosophy of Spirit
  13. What is Thy Bidding, My Master? Star Wars and the Hegelian Struggle
  14. By Any Means Necessary: Tyranny, Democracy, Republic and Empire
  15. Humanizing Technology: Flesh and Machine in Aristotle and The Empire
  16. A Certain Point of View: Lying Jedi, Honest Sith and Viewers Who Love Them
  17. Religious Pragmatism through the Eyes of Luke Skywalker

For this module, we will go through Mark Rowland's Philosopher at the End of the Universe. It is available via Open Library. Each chapter has a leading question. Reflect on this and the information Rowlands provides (as well as any other properly cited resources)  in order to answer the leading question in relation to your own experience and understanding. The word count for each of these lessons is 750 words.

 

  1. Frankenstein: What is the meaning of life?
  2. The Matrix: Can we be certain of anything?
  3. Terminator I and II: What is the importance of the physical body to identity?
  4. Total Recall and Sixth Day: What do we mean when we say I? 
  5. Minority Report: Do we have free will?
  6. Hallow Man: Why should we be moral?
  7. Independence Day and Aliens: What is the scope of morality?
  8. Star Wars: What are the properties of “good” and “evil”?
  9. Blade Runner: What is the difference between “life” and “existence”?