X-Men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-Verse Book

Acknowledgments: Superheroic Thanks to X-tra Special Humans and Mutants Alike! xi

Introduction: You Are About to Embark on an X-perience with "the Strangest Heroes of All" 1

X1 Origins

The X-Factor in the Existential

1 The Lure of the Normal: Who Wouldn't Want to Be a Mutant? Patrick D. Hopkins 5

2 Amnesia, Personal Identity, and the Many Lives of Wolverine Jason Southworth 17

3 Is Suicide Always Immoral? Jean Grey, Immanuel Kant, and The Dark Phoenix Saga Mark D. White 27

4 X-istential X-Men: Jews, Supermen, and the Literature of Struggle Jesse Kavadlo 38

X2 Evolution

Consciousness, Conscience, and Cure

5 Mad Genetics: The Sinister Side of Biological Mastery Andrew Burnett 53

6 Layla Miller Knows Stuff: How a Butterfly Can Shoulder the World George A. Dunn 66

7 X-Women and X-istence Rebecca Housel 85

8 Mutant Rights, Torture, and X-perimentation Cynthia McWilliams 99

9 When You Know You're just a Comic Book Character: Deadpool Joseph J. Darowski 107

X3 United

Human Ethics and Mutant Morality in the X-Verse

10 Magneto, Mutation, and Morality Richard Davis 125

11 Professor X Wants You Christopher Robichaud 140

12 Dirty Hands and Dirty Minds: The Ethics of Mind Reading and Mindwriting Andrew Terjesen 153

13 The Mutant Cure or Social Change: Debating Disability Ramona Ilea 170

14 Mutants and the Metaphysics of Race Jeremy Pierce 183

X4 The Last Stand

War, Technology, Death, and Mutantkind

15 Mutant Phenomenology J. Jeremy Wisnewski 197

16 War and Peace, Power and Faith Katherine E. Kirby 209

17 High-Tech Mythology in X-Men George Teschner 223

Contributors: And Now, We'd Like to Introduce theX-Perts: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Amazing, Astonishing, Uncanny, Ultimate Authors from Xavier's School for Gifted Philosophers! 236

Index 241