Heroes and Philosophy
Heroes and Philosophy

Author: David K. Johnson

Publisher: Wiley

Published: 2009-08-17

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9780470373385

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The first unauthorized look at the philosophy behind Heroes, one of TV's most popular shows When ordinary individuals from around the world inexplicably develop superhuman abilities, they question who they are, struggle to cope with new responsibilities, and decide whether to use their new power for good or for evil. Every episode of Tim Kring's hit TV show Heroes is a philosophical quandary. Heroes and Philosophy is the first book to analyze how philosophy makes this show so compelling. It lets you examine questions crucial to our existence as thinking, rational beings. Is the Company evil, or good? Does Hiro really have a destiny? Do we? Is it okay to lie in order to hide your powers or save the world? Heroes and Philosophy offers answers to these and other intriguing questions. Brings the insight of history's philosophical heavyweights such as Plato and Nietzche to Heroes characters and settings Adds a fun and fascinating dimension to your understanding of the show Expands your thinking about Heroes as the series expands from graphic and text novels to action figures and a video game Whether you're new to Heroes or have been a fan since day one, this book will take your enjoyment of the show to the next level.

Untangling Heroism
Untangling Heroism

Author: Ari Kohen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-15

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1317964586

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The idea of heroism has become thoroughly muddled today. In contemporary society, any behavior that seems distinctly difficult or unusually impressive is classified as heroic: everyone from firefighters to foster fathers to freedom fighters are our heroes. But what motivates these people to act heroically and what prevents other people from being heroes? In our culture today, what makes one sort of hero appear more heroic than another sort? In order to answer these questions, Ari Kohen turns to classical conceptions of the hero to explain the confusion and to highlight the ways in which distinct heroic categories can be useful at different times. Untangling Heroism argues for the existence of three categories of heroism that can be traced back to the earliest Western literature – the epic poetry of Homer and the dialogues of Plato – and that are complex enough to resonate with us and assist us in thinking about heroism today. Kohen carefully examines the Homeric heroes Achilles and Odysseus and Plato’s Socrates, and then compares the three to each other. He makes clear how and why it is that the other-regarding hero, Socrates, supplanted the battlefield hero, Achilles, and the suffering hero, Odysseus. Finally, he explores in detail four cases of contemporary heroism that highlight Plato’s success. Kohen states that in a post-Socratic world, we have chosen to place a premium on heroes who make other-regarding choices over self-interested ones. He argues that when humans face the fact of their mortality, they are able to think most clearly about the sort of life they want to have lived, and only in doing that does heroic action become a possibility. Kohen’s careful analysis and rethinking of the heroism concept will be relevant to scholars across the disciplines of political science, philosophy, literature, and classics.

Philosophy for Heroes
Philosophy for Heroes

Author: Clemens Lode

Publisher: Clemens Lode Verlag E.K.

Published: 2016-12-16

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9783945586211

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We are each heroes in the making. How can this be? Because we can reflect on our actions. We have the potential to become heroes in every aspect and every action of our lives... Being a hero is much more than committing a heroic act. One does not magically morph into a "hero" as a result of circumstance: the just-in-time rescue, rising up in the midst of a crisis, or even leading others out of a catastrophe. Becoming a hero is more than even these courageous acts. It requires deep insight-the type of philosophical investigation that the greatest minds throughout history have pondered. With his book series Philosophy for Heroes, Clemens Lode bridges the gap between coding, science, philosophy, and, ultimately, leadership. In Philosophy for Heroes: Knowledge, he takes the reader on a journey, examining the foundations of knowledge. What is the basis of our understanding of the world? How does society define a "hero"? How do basic skills, such as language and mathematics, train our way of thinking and reasoning? Becoming a hero requires more than courage. It requires speaking up, stepping forward from the sidelines, and taking action. For all of this, a deep insight into philosophy is the first, and most important, step. Philosophy for Heroes connects the wisdom of the ages to today's real world. Table of Contents 1 My Philosophy 1.1 Heroism 1.1.1 The Conventional Hero 1.1.2 Heroes and Conflicts 1.2 The Key to Wisdom 1.3 Why Philosophy Is Important 1.4 Basics of Philosophy 1.5 Ontology 1.5.1 The Fallacy of the Stolen Concept 1.5.2 The Axiom of Existence 1.5.3 The Axiom of Identity 1.5.4 The Axiom of Consciousness 1.6 Epistemology 1.6.1 Perception 1.6.1.1 The Limits of Perception 1.6.1.2 The Range of Perception 1.6.2 Concepts 1.6.2.1 Concept Formation 1.6.2.2 Establishment of a Definition 1.6.2.3 Concept Hierarchies 1.6.2.4 Conceptual Common Denominator 1.6.2.5 Boundary Cases 1.6.2.6 Concepts in Computers 1.6.3 Induction and Deduction 1.6.4 Rationalism 1.6.5 Induction and Empiricism 1.6.5.1 A World Without Induction 1.6.5.2 The Problem of Induction 1.6.5.3 The Truth 2 Language 2.1 Properties of Language 2.1.1 The Origin of Writing 2.1.2 Completeness and Consistency 2.1.2.1 Incomplete Languages 2.1.2.2 Inconsistent Languages 2.1.3 Language Optimization 2.1.4 Learning of Languages 2.2 Language and Mathematics 2.2.1 Sets 2.2.1.1 Set of all Sets 2.2.1.2 Countable Sets 2.2.2 Ratios 2.2.3 Irrational Numbers 2.2.4 Mathematics and Empiricism 2.2.5 The Zero 2.2.6 Mathematics and Reality 2.3 The Value of Language 2.3.1 The Foundation of Knowledge 2.3.2 The Theory of Mind 2.3.3 Language as Communication 2.3.3.1 Differences in Concepts 2.3.3.2 Cultural Differences 2.3.3.3 Translatability 2.3.3.4 Other Forms of Intelligence 2.3.3.5 The Arecibo Message 2.3.3.6 Trust 2.3.3.7 Language in Society

Wounded Heroes
Wounded Heroes

Author: Marina McCoy

Publisher:

Published: 2013-09-26

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0199672784

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McCoy examines how Greek epic, tragedy, and philosophy offer important insights into the nature of human vulnerability, especially how Greek thought extols the recognition and proper acceptance of vulnerability. Beginning with the literary works of Homer and Sophocles, she also expands her analysis to the philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle.

Heroes
Heroes

Author: Franco Berardi

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2015-02-03

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1781687528

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What is the relationship between capitalism and mental health? Through an exhilarating mix of philosophical and psychoanalytical theory and reportage - from the suicide epidemic in Korea to the wave of American mass murders - the prominent Italian thinker Franco Berardi Bifo traces the social roots of the mental malaise of our age. His darkest and most unsettling book to date, Berardi proposes dystopian irony as a strategy to disentangle ourselves from the deadly embrace of the neoliberalism.

Heroes, Saints, and Ordinary Morality
Heroes, Saints, and Ordinary Morality

Author: Andrew Michael Flescher

Publisher: Georgetown University Press

Published: 2003-11-25

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 9781589013414

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Most of us are content to see ourselves as ordinary people—unique in ways, talented in others, but still among the ranks of ordinary mortals. Andrew Flescher probes our contented state by asking important questions: How should "ordinary" people respond when others need our help, whether the situation is a crisis, or something less? Do we have a responsibility, an obligation, to go that extra mile, to act above and beyond the call of duty? Or should we leave the braver responses to those who are somehow different than we are: better somehow, "heroes," or "saints?" Traditional approaches to ethics have suggested there is a sharp distinction between ordinary people and those called heroes and saints; between duties and acts of supererogation (going beyond the expected). Flescher seeks to undo these standard dichotomies by looking at the lives and actions of certain historical figures—Holocaust rescuers, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, among others—who appear to be extraordinary but were, in fact, ordinary people. Heroes, Saints, and Ordinary Morality shifts the way we regard ourselves in relationship to those we admire from afar—it asks us not only to admire, but to emulate as well—further, it challenges us to actively seek the acquisition of virtue as seen in the lives of heroes and saints, to learn from them, a dynamic aspect of ethical behavior that goes beyond the mere avoidance of wrongdoing. Andrew Flescher sets a stage where we need to think and act, calling us to lead lives of self-examination—even if that should sometimes provoke discomfort. He asks that we strive to emulate those we admire and therefore allow ourselves to grow morally, and spiritually. It is then that the individual develops a deeper altruistic sense of self—a state that allows us to respond as the heroes of our own lives, and therefore in the lives of others, when times and circumstance demand that of us.

The Story of Analytic Philosophy
The Story of Analytic Philosophy

Author: Anat Biletzki

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2002-01-31

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 1134716141

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This unique collection looks at analytic philosophy in its historical context. Prominent philosophers discuss key figures, including Russell and Wittgenstein, methods and results in analytic philosophy to present its story. This volume assesses the challenge posed by changing cultural and philosophical trends and movements.

Adventure Time and Philosophy
Adventure Time and Philosophy

Author: Nicolas Michaud

Publisher: Open Court

Published: 2015-04-07

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 081269886X

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Adventure Time and Philosophy is a monster-beating, wild ride of philosophical mayhem. The authors have come together to understand and explore one of the deepest and most thoughtful television shows ever to assault human brain waves. Where Adventure Time shows us what the world could be like, this book screws open our cranial lids, mucks about in the mess that is our heads, and attempts to come to some answers about the nature of reality. Adventure Time challenges everything we know about life, meaning, heroism, and even burritos. And it’s time to give the show some serious thought. Adventure Time and Philosophy is a chance to put down your broadsword, put your exhausted monster-slaying feet up, and try to figure out why you spend your time rescuing people in distress and fighting for justice. What is justice anyway? If you don’t happen to have your pocket edition of the Enchiridion on hand, and Billy the Hero *wicked guitar solo* hasn’t been returning your calls, pick up Adventure Time and Philosophy and learn what it means to be a real hero! The authors of the chapters will prove that Adventure Time is much more than a cartoon, it’s a way of life. . . . It’s also the future!-—a post-apocalyptic future 10,000 years after the Great Mushroom War, actually. Who better to have as companions than Finn and Jake when taking on Plato, Nietzsche, and Baudrillard or encountering the Slime Princess, the Ice King, and Marceline the Vampire Queen. In a review of the show in Entertainment Weekly, Darren Franich characterized Adventure Time as a “hybrid sci-fi/fantasy/horror/musical/fairy tale, with echoes of Calvin and Hobbes, Hayao Miyazaki, Final Fantasy, Richard Linklater, Where the Wild Things Are, and the music video you made with your high school garage band.” This book is filled with chapters written by a colorful cast of characters who enlighten us about the profound and life-affirming spiritual subtext and dark comedic elements of an awesomely fantastic show.

Heroes, Legends, Champions
Heroes, Legends, Champions

Author: Andrew Bernstein

Publisher: Union Square Publishing, Incorporated

Published: 2020-01-20

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9781946928245

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This is not a self-help book. Its purpose is to not to show us how to apply the lessons of a hero's life in our own. Rather, it is a theoretical book, explaining what heroes are and why mankind needs them. Before we can emulate heroes, we must properly identify them, we must understand who and what they are....And what they are not. This is a matter of life and death. Some persons, for example, at various times have considered as heroes Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Osama bin Laden. If we are to promote human life, it is necessary for us to clearly understand that and why mass murderers are definitively excluded from the echelon of heroes. Chapters One, Two, and Three focus on the nature and definition of a hero, and provide a method for distinguishing a hero from non-heroes. Chapter Four raises the question of whether, under appropriate circumstances, everyman and everywoman can rise to heroic heights--and answers in the affirmative. Chapters Five, Six, and Seven dispute the time-honored notion that heroism involves self-sacrifice and demonstrate, rather, that heroism, properly understood, involves actions self-fulfilling; heroism and self-sacrifice are, in fact, moral antipodes. Chapter Eight discusses an appropriate response to morally flawed heroes--and Chapter Nine explains the errors of the modern antihero mentality. Finally, Chapter Ten shows the life-giving importance of hero worship. The two appendices validate philosophic principles that underlie the theory of heroes elucidated here: That human life is the standard of moral value and that human beings possess free will. This book does not purport to be an exhaustive analysis of a hero's nature. Presumably, there is more to be said. But it is a provocative first step toward understanding the nature of heroes, one that will hopefully spark a lively 21st century debate of this important subject.

What Makes a Hero?
What Makes a Hero?

Author: Elizabeth Svoboda

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-08-29

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1101622644

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An entertaining investigation into the biology and psychology of why we sacrifice for other people Researchers are now applying the lens of science to study heroism for the first time. How do biology, upbringing, and outside influences intersect to produce altruistic and heroic behavior? And how can we encourage this behavior in corporations, classrooms, and individuals? Using dozens of fascinating real-life examples, Elizabeth Svoboda explains how our genes compel us to do good for others, how going through suffering is linked to altruism, and how acting heroic can greatly improve your mental health. She also reveals the concrete things we can do to encourage our most heroic selves to step forward. It’s a common misconception that heroes are heroic just because they’re innately predisposed to be that way. Svoboda shows why it’s not simply a matter of biological hardwiring and how anyone can be a hero if they're committed to developing their heroic potential.