Green Lantern and Philosophy: No Evil Shall Escape this Book

Is Hal Jordan a murderer?
What kind of strength is willpower?
Do emotions help or hurt a Green Lantern?
Can a Green Lantern power ring do anything imaginable andshould we worry if it can?
How can insects, mathematical equations, and planets be GreenLanterns?

Green Lanterns and their awesome power rings inspire a sense ofpossibility and wonder that can last a lifetime. Anyone who dreamsof how to make the world a better place can imagine ways to makethat dream come true with a Green Lantern ring. Green Lanternand Philosophy shines an emerald light on the manyphilosophical questions raised in the comics, the films, and theanimated series, tackling issues from Aristotle′s view of theeffect of emotions on virtue, to what Plato′s tale of the Ring ofGyges tells us about Green Lanterns and the lust for power, todeciding who is the greatest Green Lantern of all time. So whetheryou′re a fan of Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner,or Alan Scott and let′s not forget Soranik Natu, Kilowog,Katma Tui, Salaak, Mogo, and even Sinestro Green Lanternand Philosophy will bring enlightenment to help turn theblackest night into the brightest day!

Our Sight.

INTRODUCTION: Welcome to the Corps!

Part One Will and Emotion: The PhilosophicalSpectrum.

1The Blackest Night for Aristotle s Account of Emotions(Jason Southworth).

2 Flexing the Mental Muscle: Green Lanterns and the Nature ofWillpower (Mark D. White).

3 Women Are from Zamaron, Men Are from Oa (Sarah K. Donovanand Nicholas P. Richardson).

Part Two Emerald Ethics: It s Not All Black andWhite.

4 Will They Let Just Anybody Join? Testing for MoralJudgment in Green Lantern Corps (Andrew Terjesen).

5 The Greatest Green Lantern: Aesthetic Admiration and thePraiseworthy Hero (Jane Dryden).

6 There Should Be No Forgiveness for Hal Jordan (NicolasMichaud).

7 Morality, Atonement, and Guilt: Hal Jordan s ShiftingMotivations (Joseph J. Darowski).

Part Three I m with Green Lantern: Friends andRelationships.

8 Hard–Traveling Ethics: Moral Rationalism vs. MoralSentimentalism (Andrew Terjesen).

9. I Despise Messiness : The Plato–Aristotle Debatein the Troubled Friendship of Green Lantern and Green Arrow(Brett Chandler Patterson).

10 Can t Live With Em, Can t Live Without Em: Green Lantern, Relationships, and Autonomy (JaneDryden).

Part 4. With This Ring, I Thee Swear: Power, Duty, andLaw.

11 The Oaths of Soranik Natu: Can a Doctor Be a Green Lantern?(Ruth Tallman and Jason Southworth).

12 Crying for Justice: Retributivism for Those Who WorshipEvil s Might (Mark D. White).

13 Hate Crimes as Terrorism in Brother s Keeper (RonNovy).

14 Ring of Gyges, the Ring of the Green Lantern, and theTemptation of Power (Adam Barkman).

Part Five Don t Tell Krona: Metaphysics, Mind andTime.

15 All For One and One For All: Mogo, the Collective, andBiological Unity (Leonard Finkelman).

16 Green Mind: The Book of Oa, the Lantern Corps, andPeirce s Theory of Communal Mind (Paul R.Jaissle).

17 Shedding an Emerald Light on Destiny: The problem with TimeTravel (Amy Kind).

Part Six Can Green Lantern Make a Boxing Glove HeCan s Lift? Powers and Limitations.

18. Another Glove? Green Lantern and the Limits of Imagination(Daniel P. Malloy).

19. Beware my Power : Leibniz and Green Lantern onGod, Omnipotence, and Evil (Carsten Fogh Nielsen).

20. Magic and Science in the Green Lantern Mythos:Clarke s Law, the Starheart, and Emotional Energy (AndrewZimmerman Jones).

CONTRIBUTORS: Tales of the Philosophy Corps.

INDEX: The Book of Oa.

Mark D. White is a professor in the Department ofPolitical Science, Economics, and Philosophy at the College ofStaten Island, CUNY. He coedited Batman and Philosophy andedited Watchmen and Philosophy and Iron Man andPhilosophy.

William Irwin is a professor of philosophy at King′sCollege in Wilkes–Barre, Pennsylvania. He originated the philosophyand popular culture genre of books as coeditor of the bestsellingThe Simpsons and Philosophy and has overseen recent titlesincluding Batman and Philosophy, House andPhilosophy, and Mad Men and Philosophy.