Spider-Man and Philosophy: The Web of Inquiry

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi

INTRODUCTION 1

PART ONE THE SPECTACULAR LIFE OF SPIDER-MAN?

1 Does Peter Parker Have a Good Life? 7
Neil Mussett

2 What Price Atonement? Peter Parker and the Infinite Debt 22
Taneli Kukkonen

3 “My Name is Peter Parker”: Unmasking the Right and the Good 37
Mark D. White

PART TWO RESPONSIBILITY-MAN

4 “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”: Spider-Man, Christian Ethics, and the Problem of Evil 55
Adam Barkman

5 Does Great Power Bring Great Responsibility? Spider-Man and the Good Samaritan 70
J. Keeping

6 With Great Power Comes Great Culpability: How Blameworthy Is Spider-Man for Uncle Ben’s Death? 86
Philip Tallon

PART THREE SPIDER-SENSE AND THE SELF

7 Why Is My Spider-Sense Tingling? 103
Andrew Terjesen

8 Red or Black: Perception, Identity, and Self 119
Meaghan P. Godwin

9 With Great Power: Heroism, Villainy, and Bodily Transformation 131
Mark K. Spencer

PART FOUR ARACHNIDS “R” US: TECHNOLOGY AND THE HUMAN, ALL TOO HUMAN

10 Transhumanism: Or, Is It Right to Make a Spider-Man? 145
Ron Novy

11 Maximum Clonage: What the Clone Saga Can Teach Us about Human Cloning 159
Jason Southworth and John Timm

PART FIVE YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN

12 Justice versus Romantic Love: Can Spider-Man Champion Justice and Be with Mary Jane at the Same Time? 177
Charles Taliaferro and Tricia Little

13 Love, Friendship, and Being Spider-Man 188
Tony Spanakos

14 Spidey’s Tangled Web of Obligations: Fighting Friends and Dependents Gone Bad 200
Christopher Robichaud

PART SIX THE AMAZING SPEAKING SPIDER: JOKES, STORIES, AND THE CHOICES WE MAKE

15 The Quipslinger: The Morality of Spider-Man’s Jokes 217
Daniel P. Malloy

16 The Sound and the Fury behind “One More Day” 231
Mark D. White

17 Spider-Man and the Importance of Getting Your Story Straight 243
Jonathan J. Sanford

CONTRIBUTORS 257

INDEX 263